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Former teammates collide in Atlanta

May 28, 2011 - 2:31 PM (Sports Network) - Two slumping ex-teammates will meet on the mound tonight when the Cincinnati Reds visit the Atlanta Braves in the second game of a three-game holiday weekend series at Turner Field.

The Reds opened the set with a win on Friday when Mike Leake and the bullpen quieted the Braves while Fred Lewis had an RBI double and scored the deciding run in a 5-1 win.

Leake (4-2), recalled from Triple-A Louisville before the game, yielded just one run on seven hits and three walks over six innings to pick up the win in his first start since May 3.

Atlanta starter Tommy Hanson didn't make it out of the fifth. After winning four straight decisions, Hanson (5-4) gave up three runs - two earned - on four hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings to take the loss.

Cincinnati starts 34-year-old right-hander Bronson Arroyo tonight while the Braves counter with 37-year-old Derek Lowe.

The two played together for two memorable seasons with the Boston Red Sox in 2003-04, including the team's World Series championship that snapped an 86- year title drought.

Arroyo came to the Reds in a deal for Wily Mo Pena after the 2005 season and has been the team's workhorse since, winning double-digit games in four of five seasons - including a career-best 17 wins in 2010.

He opened 2011 with a pair of victories but is just 1-5 in eight starts since, including a 10-3 loss at Philadelphia on May 23, in which he was raked for 10 hits and nine runs in just 2 2/3 innings.

The Key West, Fla. native has allowed four runs or more in four of his last five outings, after doing so just once in his first five.

The Reds are 4-6 in the 10 games he's pitched.

Lowe, who's pitched with Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta since leaving Boston after 2004, is 4-2 in six career meetings with the Reds.

He was a 4-1 loser to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in a May 22 outing after allowing five hits and three runs in six innings.

The Michigan native's last win came May 6 at Philadelphia, when he allowed two hits in six scoreless innings of a 5-0 Braves win.

Atlanta is 5-5 in the 10 games he's started.

Both the Braves and Reds are third in their respective National League divisions, with Atlanta trailing the Phillies by 4 1/2 games in the East and the Reds sitting four behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the Central.

The Braves won three of five matchups versus the Reds last year, winning both meetings in Atlanta.