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Johnson aims for fourth straight win

Jun 5, 2007 - 3:28 PM San Francisco (27-29) at Arizona (34-24) 9:40 pm EDT

PHOENIX (Ticker) -- The Arizona Diamondbacks are one of baseball's hottest teams lately, in part because of Randy Johnson.

The 43-year-old Johnson and the Diamondbacks begin a three-game set against the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday at Chase Field.

Johnson (3-2, 3.89 ERA), after two subpar season with the Yankees, was dealt back to Arizona during the offseason and has hardly missed a beat in his return to the NL. He is holding hitters to a .232 batting average and is striking out over 11 batters per nine innings for Arizona, which has won nine of its last 10 contests.

The 10-time All-Star has won each of his last three starts and has struck out at least nine hitters in three of his last four starts. In his last start, he struck out six over six scoreless frames, allowing just one hit in the Diamondbacks' 4-3 win over Philadelphia on Wednesday.

A man almost half his age, 22-year-old Matt Cain (2-5, 3.42) will take the mound for the Giants, facing Arizona for the third time this season. He is 3-2 with a 3.33 ERA in eight career starts against the Diamondbacks, including a 1-0 record with a 1.20 ERA this season in his first two outings against Arizona.

The righthander will look to recover from a poor showing on Thursday against the Mets, as he surrendered four runs and 10 hits over seven innings.