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Hudson hopes to end Braves' three-game skid

Jul 19, 2007 - 2:37 PM St Louis (43-48) at Atlanta (50-45) 7:35 pm EDT

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Tim Hudson hopes to help the Atlanta Braves forget about an embarrassing sweep.

Hudson takes the hill Thursday when the Braves host the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a four-game series.

After winning seven of eight contests from July 4-15, Atlanta suffered a surprising three-game series sweep at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds, who entered the series with the worst record in the National League.

The Reds capped the unlikely sweep by persevering for a 5-4 victory in 15 innings Wednesday afternoon.

Edgar Renteria had four hits for the Braves, who pounded out 18 hits but grounded into four double plays and stranded 14 baserunners.

A day later, the Braves turn to Hudson (9-5, 3.35 ERA), who has won three straight decisions. The righthander hurled seven scoreless innings in his last start, leading Atlanta to an easy 9-1 victory over Pittsburgh last Friday.

In four career starts against the Cardinals, the 32-year-old Hudson is 2-1 with a 4.85 ERA.

St. Louis counters with Mike Maroth (0-2, 5.75), who will try to pick up his first win since coming over from the Detroit Tigers in a trade last month.

In his last start, the lefthanded Maroth was pounded for eight runs and nine hits in five innings of a 10-4 setback at Philadelphia on Saturday.