(Sports Network) - Mired in a season-high losing streak of six straight games, the San Diego Padres will try save some face tonight in the finale of a three- game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
The Padres haven't scored more than five runs in six straight games and hope to avoid suffering back-to-back sweeps. They lost all three games versus Philadelphia over the weekend before the first two installments of this series with the D'Backs, including Tuesday's 7-4 setback which featured a five-run fifth inning by Arizona.
Kevin Correia was no help in trying to halt San Diego's skid, as the starting pitcher permitted six runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings. Nick Hundley was the lone bright spot by going 3-for-4 with three doubles and two RBI for the Padres, whose lead atop the National League West Division has dwindled down to four games ahead of San Francisco. The Giants, though, have also been hard pressed for wins lately.
"It's just not happening right now," Padres manager Bud Black said of the lack of production. "The world will turn. It happens to every team."
Black and the Padres may get off the schneid tonight with wins leader Mat Latos scheduled to start. Latos is 13-5 with a 2.29 earned run average in 24 starts this season and has won eight of his last nine decisions. He did not figure into the decision of last Friday's 3-2 loss versus Philadelphia and hurled seven strong innings of one-run ball with six K's.
Latos, a right-hander, defeated the Diamondbacks in his first career start against them on August 8 in the desert, where he tossed six shutout innings in a 10-1 rout. Latos is 9-3 in 15 starts away from Petco Park this season.
Arizona has won five of six games and is in search of its first sweep of the Padres since winning all three matchups from July 6-8, 2009 at Chase Field.
"We certainly can't let our guard down and say we're there, because we're far from it," D'Backs skipper Kirk Gibson told the team's site.
Mark Reynolds hit a two-run homer, while Miguel Montero and Gerardo Parra both knocked in a pair of runs for the Diamondbacks. Reynolds owns 31 homers this season and has three in his last two games with seven RBI.
D'Backs rookie Barry Enright will try to keep his unbeaten streak intact when he takes the ball this evening. Enright is 4-0 with a 2.13 earned run average in his last eight starts and threw seven scoreless innings in last Friday's 6-0 win at San Francisco, improving to 5-2 in 11 overall starts.
The right-hander is 3-2 in six home outings this season and will face San Diego for the first time.
San Diego leads the 2010 series with Arizona by a 10-7 count, but has lost six of the eight matchups at Chase Field.