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LHP Johnsons still seeking first win of the season

May 15, 2007 - 2:42 PM Arizona (20-19) at Colorado (16-22) 8:35 pm EDT

DENVER (Ticker) - Randy Johnson hopes start No. 5 does the trick.

Johnson tries to finally pick up his first win this season when the Arizona Diamondbacks open a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday.

Johnson (0-2, 6.00 ERA) was impressive in his last start, taking a shutout into the seventh inning, but reliever Brandon Medders gave up a grand slam as Arizona fell 9-3 to Philadelphia.

A five-time Cy Young award winner, Johnson will be making his first start of the season on the away from home but is just 5-4 at Coors Field all-time.

The hard-throwing lefthander has not started with losses in his first three decisions since 1989, when he went 0-4 through seven outings.

The Rockies will counter with Jason Hirsh (2-3, 4.10), who is winless in his last three starts. Most recently, Hirsh was gave up three runs in four frames during a 9-2 defeat to St. Louis.

"I don't know what I did to deserve all these matchups," Hirsh said about facing Johnson. "We tried to calculate the other day, figuring out about getting my first hit. I was hoping I'd face Livan (Hernandez), because he's kind of more my speed. And then we went over and, no, it's going to be Randy Johnson. Great."

Colorado is coming off its worst setback of the season, a 15-2 thrashing at the hands of the San Francisco Giants on Sunday.