Streaking right-hander Brandon Beachy - unbeaten since his initial start on April 9 - goes for a sixth consecutive victory tonight when the Atlanta Braves visit Great American Ball Park for the second of a four- game series with the Cincinnati Reds.
The Indiana-born Beachy racked up seven wins in 28 starts across his initial two years with the Braves since he signed as an undrafted free agent in 2008.
He became a full-time member of the Atlanta rotation to begin this spring and dropped an 8-3 decision at Houston to begin the season on April 9, but has since rebounded with five wins and two no-decisions in seven starts.
He's given up two runs or less in each appearance, including a complete-game five-hit shutout of Miami in his most recent outing on May 17, a 7-0 Braves victory that featured six strikeouts and no walks.
Overall, in 54 innings, Beachy has given up just eight earned runs on 34 hits with 39 strikeouts - yielded a stingy 1.33 earned run average and an opposition batting average of .177.
Beachy got a no-decision in his lone start against the Reds on July 24, 2011 after allowing an earned run on five hits in six innings.
The Braves lost the game, 4-3.
Cincinnati counters with right-hander Mat Latos, who takes the mound for the ninth time since coming to the Reds in an offseason trade.
He was 0-2 with a no-decision and an ugly 8.22 ERA through his initial three starts, but has since gone 2-0 with three decisions while trimming the ERA to 4.63 over 44 2/3 innings.
Latos gave up three runs on seven hits in five innings in the Reds' 9-4 loss to the New York Mets on May 17, his most recent start. In two previous outings, however, he allowed just one run on five hits in 11 innings.
In five career meetings with the Braves, he's 2-2.
On Monday, Mike Leake gave up one run on two hits over eight innings and also hit a solo home run to lead the Reds to a 4-1 win.
Leake (1-5) had six strikeouts and walked just one en route to his first victory since Sept. 13 last year.
Drew Stubbs had a pair of solo homers and Zack Cozart also had a solo blast as Cincinnati won its third straight game. Leake, Cozart and Stubbs hit back-to- back-to-back homers in the fourth inning.
"He had it going on big time tonight," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "I'm just so glad for him that he got on the board finally. It's big for us too. This is a big series against a very good team and a very good hitting team."
Mike Minor (2-4) was charged with the loss after giving up all four runs over six frames.
Juan Francisco homered for Atlanta, which lost for the second time in three tries.
The Braves and Reds split six games in 2011 and were 1-1 this season in a pair of games in Atlanta on May 14-15.
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