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Peavy faces Nationals, looks to continue road dominance

Jun 1, 2007 - 3:03 PM San Diego (31-22) at Washington (22-32) 7:05 pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Jake Peavy has been dominant all season long. But on the road, he has been downright filthy.

The San Diego Padres begin a three-game weekend series with the Washington Nationals on Friday at RFK Stadium.

Peavy (7-1, 1.47 ERA), who has allowed just one earned run in four starts away from PETCO Park, is 3-0 on the road, holding batters to a .101 average. He has surrendered more than two runs only twice in his 11 starts this season.

The righthander, who will be looking for a league-best eighth win, is 2-4 with a 4.22 ERA in eight career starts against the Nationals. He allowed two hits in seven frames in Sunday's 3-0 win against Milwaukee.

Peavy, who leads the majors in ERA and is second in the NL with 85 strikeouts, has pitched at least six innings in all but one of his outings, striking out at least eight hitters in six of his starts.

After consecutive home shutouts against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Nationals rediscovered the offense that helped them go 12-5 for a stretch during May. They scored 11 runs Thursday against the Dodgers, one away from tying their season high.

Washington will counter with rookie Matt Chico (3-4, 5.13), who gave up just three hits in four scoreless innings in the Nationals' 7-2 win Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals. He was pulled from the contest when a rain delay stopped play for over an hour.

The lefthander is 0-1 with a 12.27 ERA in his only career start against the Padres.