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The
Cincinnati Reds
have had no trouble defeating the lowly
Washington Nationals
in this series, and they hope
Edinson Volquez
can find similar success in Sunday's finale.
Volquez looks to bounce back from a couple of subpar outings and help the Reds sweep a four-game set from the Nationals at
Great American Ball Park.
Cincinnati (42-47) beat Washington 3-2 on Saturday, as
Brandon Phillips
drove in Jerry Hairston Jr. from second base with one out in the ninth inning for the game-winning run. Phillips also had
an RBI in the fifth inning and has driven in five of Cincinnati's 11 runs in the first three games of this series.
"It's just a different guy every night," Phillips said. "We believe whoever goes up there is going to come through."
Cincinnati has won six of eight, and is seeking its first four-game sweep since July 13-16, 2006 against Colorado. The Reds
have not swept a four-game series over the Nationals since July 19-22, 1973, when the franchise played in Montreal.
Cincinnati would like to complete the sweep by seeing Volquez (10-3, 2.24 ERA) get back on track.
Through his first 16 outings of this season, Volquez led the majors in ERA (1.71) and strikeouts (110), and was second in
opponents' batting average (.196). In his last two starts, though, Volquez has looked rather ordinary as he's gone 0-1, allowing
13 hits, 10 runs and six walks while striking out three in 9 2-3 innings.
On Tuesday, Volquez yielded three runs and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings of a 6-5, 12-inning loss to Pittsburgh.
This will be Volquez's first career start against the Nationals (33-55), and with the way they've been swinging the bats lately,
he may not have to worry about much.
Washington, owner of the worst record in the majors, has scored seven runs while batting .202 during its four-game skid, and
has dropped eight of nine on the road.
To make matters worse,
Elijah Dukes
left Saturday's game in the seventh inning after straining a tendon in his right knee while slamming into the wall. Dukes,
who doubled earlier in the game, had been one of Washington's top hitters lately, going 8-for-23 (.348) with three home runs
in his last six games.
General manager Jim Bowden said Dukes would most likely go on the disabled list, but the team was waiting for MRI results.
"It's very unfortunate," Nationals manager Manny Acta said. "The way our offense is going, he's going to be missed."
In the series finale, Acta gives the ball to rookie right-hander
Collin Balester
(1-0, 1.80), who looks to build off a strong major league debut.
Balester had a no-hitter through four innings, and ended up allowing one run and one hit in five innings of a 9-6 victory
over Florida on Tuesday to become the franchise's first starter to win his debut since
Dan Smith
on June 8, 1999.
"He's got good stuff, it's just a matter of him harnessing it a little bit," Nationals catcher
Paul Lo Duca
told the team's official Web site. "He's got an electric fastball and an electric curveball, and he's going to be a good pitcher
for a long time."
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