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Jul 21, 2010 - 6:10 PM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

Washington (40-54) at Cincinnati (53-42), 7:10 p.m. EDT

Stephen Strasburg is showing he can overcome early struggles. Some support from the Washington Nationals' lineup has also been a welcome change.

That offensive trend, however, may stop against ace Bronson Arroyo and the Cincinnati Reds.

Strasburg will try to make things easier on himself as he starts opposite Arroyo on Wednesday night.

Strasburg (4-2, 2.03 ERA), who turned 22 on Tuesday, has been impressive over his last three starts, going 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA and the Nationals (40-54) winning all three.

The right-hander, though, has struggled in the opening inning of each of those outings, and that continued in Friday's 4-0 win over Florida. He threw 34 pitches in the first before settling down and held the Marlins to four hits while striking out seven in six innings.

"There's been three or four times where in the first inning he's been up in the 30s in pitches, which is kind of a little agonizing for everybody because we want him to be able to go six or seven innings," manager Jim Riggleman told the team's official website. "He's extremely intense from pitch one.

"His stuff is good enough that he can pitch out of trouble. He's had about three starts like that now, and he's shown enough poise to get through it and enough talent with his repertoire of pitches to get through it."

Strasburg is also getting some help from the offense, which has provided him four runs of support in each of the last two games. He saw only one total run in the previous four, during which he went 0-2 with a 2.59 ERA.

Washington has lost four straight since Strasburg's last start, including Tuesday's 8-7 defeat to Cincinnati (53-42) in the second game of this four-game set at Great American Ball Park.

Washington may have a difficult time giving the phenom much margin for error against Arroyo (10-4, 3.96), who has posted a 1.29 ERA in winning three straight starts and five of six overall.

Arroyo has dominated his last three meetings with the Nationals, going 2-0 with a 0.78 ERA. The right-hander also pitched well in his most recent outing against them on the road June 6, allowing two runs in eight inning of a 5-4, 10-inning win.

Arroyo, whose 10 wins lead the Reds, continued his strong stretch Friday, yielding two runs in seven innings of a 3-2 win over Colorado.

The Reds have won four of five since the All-Star break and are one-half game behind St. Louis in the NL Central.

Joey Votto is hoping he's snapped out of a funk since the break by connecting for a three-run homer Tuesday. Despite his hit, the first baseman is 3 for 17 in five contests since appearing in his first All-Star game.

He's among the league leaders with 23 home runs and 63 RBIs, and needs two more homers to match his career high set last year.

Votto has done most of his damage against right-handers, hitting .338 with 20 homers and a .671 slugging percentage. He might be in for a tougher matchup, however, when he faces Strasburg for the first time.