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(Sports Network) - The Chicago Cubs conclude a six-game homestand today with the last of three consecutive meetings with the lowly Washington Nationals from Wrigley Field.

Washington, which owns the worst record in baseball at 46-84, actually managed to get the best of the National League Central-leading Cubs with a 13-5 victory in Friday's opener of this series. Chicago got things back to normal on Saturday, however, cruising to a 9-2 win behind an impressive power display by third baseman Aramis Ramirez.

Ramirez belted a pair of three-run homers and Cubs starter Ryan Dempster continued his season-long success at home with 7 1/3 outstanding innings.

Dempster (15-5) held the Nationals to one run on eight hits to earn his 15th win of the season. The All-Star hurler improved to 12-2 in 16 starts this year at Wrigley Field, where he has allowed two or less earned runs in seven of his last eight appearances.

Mark DeRosa also homered while Ryan Theriot went 3-for-5 with two runs scored for the Cubs, who maintained their 4 1/2-game lead on second-place Milwaukee in the NL Central.

Odalis Perez (5-10) gave up five runs -- four earned -- on 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings to take the loss for Washington, which received a three-hit day out of third baseman Ryan Zimmerman.

The Nationals have now lost 13 times in their last 15 games and are a brutal 23-45 on the road this season. In contrast, the Cubs are a sensational 48-19 at Wrigley.

Washington will get its first-ever look at Cubs right-hander Rich Harden in today's finale, a matchup that the offensively-challenged Nationals may have been hoping to avoid.

Harden has been terrific since joining Chicago in a trade with Oakland on July 8, as the hard-throwing but brittle hurler has gone 3-1 with a splendid 1.50 earned run average in seven starts following the deal. He's been especially dominant over his two most recent outings.

After firing five shutout innings to defeat Atlanta on August 13, Harden yielded just two hits over seven scoreless frames in Tuesday's 5-0 triumph over Cincinnati. The 26-year-old struck out 10 Reds and did not walk a batter on the evening.

In his seven starts as a Cub, Harden has surrendered one run or less six times and racked up four double-digit strikeout games.

Jason Bergmann will be the one trying to match Harden this afternoon. The Washington righty brings only a 2-9 season record into today's tilt but is coming off a solid showing in his last start.

Against Philadelphia on Tuesday, Bergmann permitted four runs -- three earned -- on six hits with no walks in a 6 1/3-inning no-decision. That was a great improvement over his previous effort, an August 13 loss to the Mets in which Bergmann was rocked for 10 runs (6 earned) and issued six walks in just three innings.

The 26-year-old started twice against the Cubs last season and went 0-1 with a 4.76 ERA in those games.

The Nationals do hold a slim 3-2 edge on Chicago in this year's season series, having taken two of three games from the Cubs in Washington from April 25-27.