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Braves-Diamondbacks Preview

Jun 8, 2010 - 6:27 AM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

Atlanta (33-25) at Arizona (23-35), 9:40 p.m. EDT

With three wins in four games back home, the Arizona Diamondbacks are starting to erase the painful memories of an 0-9 road trip.

Edwin Jackson, however, would change nothing about his own performance to end the trip.

Jackson hasn't been given a run of support in consecutive strong road efforts, but he'll have nine shutout innings to build off Tuesday night as he looks to get some offensive help against the Atlanta Braves.

Arizona (23-35) scored 17 runs during the longest road trip without a win in franchise history, but two impressive outings from Jackson (3-6, 5.33 ERA) provided a silver lining.

He gave up three runs over seven innings in a 5-0 loss at San Francisco, and was even better Wednesday at Los Angeles. The right-hander limited the Dodgers to three hits over nine scoreless innings, though the Diamondbacks again wasted his dominant effort in a 1-0, 14-inning loss.

"It was the best game of the year for him," manager A.J. Hinch said. "We rode him pretty hard today, and he stepped up. I mean, nine innings of shutout baseball - what more can you ask our of a starting pitcher? He did it with guts, he did it with swagger and he came right after them. He never let up off the gas pedal."

After going 1-5 with a 7.43 ERA through eight starts, Jackson is 2-1 with a 2.27 ERA over his last four - lasting at least seven innings in each.

He's only pitched three innings of relief in his career against Atlanta (33-25), which is in the rare position of trying to avoid a third straight loss. The Braves are 24-11 since May 1 - the majors' second-best record in that stretch - and haven't dropped three in a row since their nine-game slide April 21-29.

The Diamondbacks' five-run fourth inning was the difference in Monday's series opener. Atlanta cut a 7-1 deficit in half, but lost 7-4 after it couldn't capitalize when Arizona closer Chad Qualls loaded the bases in the ninth.

"We'll take it," Diamondbacks manager A.J. Hinch said. "It wasn't necessarily pretty or how we drew it up but look, at this point, the way that the bullpen has thrown throughout the year, I'm going to take the zero."

While Jackson has been going deep into games recently, the Braves' Kris Medlen (3-1, 2.79) is coming off the longest start of his young career. The right-hander pitched seven scoreless innings Thursday against Los Angeles, and though he was charged with three runs - two earned - and got just one out before exiting in the eighth, Atlanta held on for a 4-3 win.

That performance was enough to get Dodgers manager Joe Torre's attention.

"I was very impressed with the number of strikes he threw," Torre said. "He located very well, and that fastball-changeup combination gets it off the fat of the bat. That was pretty impressive."

Also impressive was Medlen's previous start in Arizona. He gave up one run and four hits over six innings while striking out nine on May 31, 2009, in a 9-3 victory, his first in the majors.

Atlanta's Chipper Jones could return Tuesday after the six-time All-Star has missed five games with a swollen right ring finger, and that could be good news for a struggling Jason Heyward.

The star rookie has been in Jones' customary No. 3 spot the past five games, and the experiment isn't going well. Heyward is 2 for 21 with 10 strikeouts so far on the Braves' 11-game trip.