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Dan Hudson has a chance to go into uncharted territory for a Diamondbacks pitcher this evening. Only three pitchers have ever won their first trio of starts for Arizona: Hudson, Curt Schilling and Robert Ellis - neither of the last two named won their fourth start. Performance-wise, Hudson is in the middle. He hasn't quite matched Schilling, who allowed three earned runs in 26 innings, including a pair of complete games. But he's a damn sight better than Ellis who managed to go 3-0, despite giving up 11 earned runs in 18.1 innings, for a 5.40 ERA. Getting 25 runs of support over the three games probably helped.
Tonight's line-up after the jump.
- Chris Young CF
- Kelly Johnson 2B
- Justin Upton RF
- Adam LaRoche 1B
- Miguel Montero C
- Mark Reynolds 3B
- Stephen Drew SS
- Gerardo Parra LF
- Dan Hudson RHP
The Reds have been as surprising as the Padres: no-one expected them to contend, but they've kept hanging around, and lead their division as we head into mid-August. Cincinnati is fresh off a sweep of the Marlins, which let them bounce back after getting swept by the Cardinals, and briefly fall out of first. We haven't faced Arroyo this year, but the last couple of times haven't ended well for him - a total of 20 hits and ten earned runs in 12.1 innings, though he did win one of those games. Shame we don't have Dan Haren now though: he's 3-for-4 lifetime off Arroyo, with two doubles and a home-run. That's a 2.750 OPS...
Hey, is that the time? Off to Mesa for wrestling tonight, so Sprankton will be your post-game guide to this one.