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Nationals-Braves Preview

Aug 12, 2009 - 4:07 AM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

Washington (40-72) at Atlanta (58-54), 7:10 p.m. EDT

The Atlanta Braves have won four straight and six of seven, but that lone loss came after a walkoff homer wasted a strong effort from Derek Lowe.

The right-hander will try to help the Braves complete a two-game sweep of the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night at Turner Field.

Lowe (11-7, 4.15 ERA) is 4-0 with a 2.97 ERA in his last six starts, five of them resulting in wins for the Braves (59-54).

His last game, however, ended when closer Rafael Soriano served up a three-run, walkoff homer to Andre Ethier in Thursday's 5-4 loss at Los Angeles after Lowe had allowed two runs in 6 1-3 innings against his former team.

Despite that defeat, the Braves are 16-9 since the All-Star break following Tuesday's 8-1 victory over Washington (40-73).

Lowe, though, is 0-3 with a 4.03 ERA in his last four starts against the Nationals. He's lost to them twice this season, including a 5-3 defeat July 5, when he gave up four runs and 10 hits in 5 1-3 innings.

Atlanta has outscored opponents 46-18 with a .300 batting average and eight homers over the last seven games. The club is third in the NL East, one-half game back of Florida for second and 4 1/2 behind first-place Philadelphia.

"You can definitely feel what's going on in this division, with us and Florida putting a lot of pressure on the Phillies," said Braves center fielder Ryan Church, who had two hits Tuesday, giving him a .389 average with one homer and six RBIs in his last four games. "It's going to be a heck of a September."

Yunel Escobar, who had an RBI double Tuesday, has been hot in 22 games since the All-Star break, hitting .354 with four homers and 16 RBIs. On the season, the shortstop has a .307 average while setting a career high with 11 homers and tying his personal best of 60 RBIs from a year ago.

He's thrived at home against Washington, batting .434 in 14 games.

The Nationals, owners of the worst record in the majors, are looking to rebound from their first loss after posting a season-high eight-game winning streak.

"We're still focused, we're still hungry, we still have momentum," said left fielder Nyjer Morgan, who collected two hits Tuesday, giving him eight in six games.

Washington is also getting strong production from Ryan Zimmerman, who is on a 14-game hitting streak, during which he's posted a .462 average with seven homers and 16 RBIs. The third baseman put together a career-high 30-game hit streak April 8-May 12.

The Nationals will turn to rookie Craig Stammen (3-6, 5.40), who is looking to rebound from his shortest start of the season in his first meeting with Atlanta.

The right-hander was pulled with two outs in the second inning after surrendering six runs and six hits in a 12-8 win over Florida on Thursday. He has failed to complete the fifth inning in three straight starts, going 0-1 with a 15.43 ERA.