(Sports Network) - The Arizona Diamondbacks seem to be putting an epic losing streak behind them. They only hope that starter Edwin Jackson can turn a similar corner.
The D-Backs send Jackson to the hill tonight in the continuation of a four- game series versus the Atlanta Braves at Chase Field seeking a fourth victory in five games following a 10-game losing streak.
Arizona snapped its skid by taking the first two contests of a three-game series with Colorado over the weekend, but lost Sunday's finale. However, it prevented another losing streak from forming by posting a 7-4 victory last night, snapping a club-record string of seven straight one-run games in the process.
Stephen Drew drove in four runs, Mark Reynolds snapped an 0-for-10 drought with a fourth-inning homer andDan Haren allowed three runs over 5 2/3 frames for the Diamondbacks.
"I had good stuff, good life on the ball," Haren said. "[The Braves] just made me work. Besides the first inning, I was battling all night, kind of a bend and not break kind of a thing."
Jackson didn't even come close to bending his last time out, when he put forth his best effort of the season.
Facing the Dodgers on Wednesday, Jackson hurled nine scoreless innings of three-hit, three-walk ball, striking out six while throwing 80 of his 123 pitches for strikes. Only Arizona's struggling offense kept the right-hander out of the win column as the Diamondbacks lost a 1-0 game in 14 innings.
"Best game of the year for him," Arizona manager A.J. Hinch told his team's website. "Especially at the end there when the game was on the line. We rode him pretty hard today and he stepped up, and nine innings of shutout baseball, what more can you ask out of a starting pitcher? He did it with guts, he did it with swagger, he came right after them."
Jackson is 3-6 on the season, while his earned run average fell from 6.03 to 5.33. He will try to build off that road outing tonight at Chase Field, where he is just 2-3 in six starts this season with a 5.44 ERA.
The 26-year-old will make his first career start versus the Braves, who he has faced twice in relief and owns a 3.00 ERA against without a decision.
Kris Medlen goes for a third straight winning start tonight for the Braves, a steak he extended on Thursday versus the Dodgers. The 24-year-old hurled a career-best 7 1/3 innings and gave up three runs -- two earned -- on six hits without walking a batter.
Medlen, who came into the rotation when Jair Jurrjens went down with a strained left hamstring, is 3-1 with a 2.79 ERA in 18 total games this year, five of those starts.
The third start of the right-hander's career came versus Arizona on May 31 of last season and he picked up his first win with six innings of one-run ball with nine strikeouts. Medlen then faced the Diamondbacks in relief on May 14 of this year, throwing a perfect inning of work.
Medlen will try to avoid putting the Braves into an early hole for a second straight game. Derek Lowe was pounded for seven runs and eight hits over four frames last night as Atlanta lost for the third time in four contests since a nine-game winning streak and is a still-solid 24-11 since May 1.
"He's a sinkerballer that had one of those nights where everything that was hit was just right, not hard," Braves manager Bobby Cox said of Lowe. "We couldn't make plays on them."
Melky Cabrera and David Ross each drove in two runs in defeat, while Martin Prado extended his hitting streak to 12 games. He is hitting .386 (22-for-57) over that run with seven RBI and 12 runs scored.
While Chipper Jones could return tonight from an inflamed right index finger that has held him out of the last five games, Nate McLouth was a late scratch last night due to a sore right toe and is day-to-day.
Atlanta, which is still two games up on Philadelphia for first place in the National League East, has split four meetings so far this year with Arizona and has still won six of the last 10 played at Chase Field.