(Sports Network) - After losing a season-high 10 straight games, including all nine on a recent road trip, theArizona Diamondbacks will seek some serenity in tonight's opener of a 10-game homestand that begins with the first of three straight meetings with the NL West-rival Colorado Rockies from Chase Field.
The D'Backs were swept in three games at Colorado to open the road trip and have lost four of six matchups between the clubs this season -- all at Coors Field. The Rockies have won 10 of the past 13 games in this series.
Arizona was also swept in the three games by the rival Giants and Dodgers and is coming off Wednesday's 1-0 loss in 14 innings at Los Angeles. Garret Anderson stroked a game-winning base hit off D'Backs reliever Cesar Valdez, who was saddled with the loss.
Starter Edwin Jackson threw nine scoreless innings of three-hit ball and struck out six batters for Arizona, which hasn't lost 11 straight games since June 18-29, 2004. The Diamondbacks lost a franchise-high 14 consecutive games from July 9-25 of that same year.
Stephen Drew and Justin Upton each had a pair of hits for Arizona, which has now gone scoreless for 31 consecutive innings. It suffered a 1-0 loss in 10 innings Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.
"We have to get back to putting up quality plate appearances," Arizona manager A.J. Hinch said after the losing road trip. "We've got to find a way to do it. We didn't capitalize on the baserunners we had today."
Ian Kennedy will try to prevent baserunners when he takes the mound Friday for Hinch's ballclub. Kennedy is 0-1 in his last two starts after winning three of his previous four decisions, and did not factor in the outcome of Sunday's 6-5 loss at San Francisco. He gave up just two runs in six innings and remained at 3-3 to go along with a 3.38 ERA in 11 starts this season.
The right-hander faced Colorado for the first time in his career on May 25 and gave up all three runs in five innings during a 3-2 setback.
Arizona will also welcome Atlanta and St. Louis on this homestand and is 11-12 as the host, as opposed to its 9-22 road record.
Meanwhile, the Rockies are four games off the lead in the NL West Division and just lost for only the third time in 11 tries with Tuesday's 4-1 setback against San Francisco in the finale of a three-game series at AT&T Park.
Colorado's Jeff Francis continued his return from shoulder surgery and suffered the loss for giving up four runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. Troy Tulowitzki had two hits and drove in the lone run for the Rockies, who had won the first two games of the set.
"It's a good series to win, but we came in here expecting to sweep," Francis said after the first leg of a six-game, seven-day trek. "We're in a good place, we're winning some ball games lately and playing some good baseball."
Aaron Cook will follow Francis in the rotation tonight and is 1-0 with a 4.40 earned run average in his last five starts. He won his first start since late April in an 11-3 victory versus Los Angeles on Saturday, as he permitted three runs -- one earned -- and six hits in 6 1/3 innings.
Cook, who is 0-3 with a 7.04 earned run average in six road outings in 2010, improved to 2-3 in 10 starts and lowered his overall ERA to 4.97. The right-hander is 5-4 in 21 career appearances (19 starts) against Arizona.