Veteran lefty Cliff Lee aims for a third straight victory and a second straight September gem on Wednesday night when the Philadelphia Phillies host the San Diego Padres in the middle game of a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park.
Lee, who's 1-2 in six previous meetings with the Padres, was a 2-1 winner in his first start this month, tossing eight innings of two-hit ball and striking out 10 batters in a defeat of the Atlanta Braves five days ago.
The win came two starts after Lee had also gone eight innings, allowing a single run on five hits, while defeating the New York Mets, 2-1, on Aug. 26.
Overall, Lee is unbeaten in four starts since four consecutive losses from July 10-Aug. 16.
In 12 home starts this season, he's 5-4 with a 3.61 earned run average.
San Diego counters with another lefty veteran, Eric Stults, who's making his 10th start since his last win on July 14 against San Francisco.
The 33-year-old improved to 8-7 on the season with a 10-1 decision over the Giants in San Diego, but has since gone 0-6 in nine starts in which the Padres have won just twice.
He was hit hard in his most recent start, also against the Giants, on Sept. 4, allowing seven runs on nine hits in just 4 2/3 innings of work.
He's made two previous appearances against Philadelphia and has a pair of no- decisions while posting a 5.40 ERA in 10 overall innings.
On Tuesday, Jedd Gyorko went 3-for-5 with an RBI and three runs scored as the Padres took an 8-2 win.
Chase Headley, Ronny Cedeno and Rene Rivera each drove in two runs for the Padres, who have won four straight.
Andrew Cashner (9-8) won for the first time since Aug. 2 as he gave up two runs on four hits with a walk and seven strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings.
Cody Asche hit a solo home run while Cesar Hernandez also had an RBI for the Phillies, who came into the game off a three-game sweep of the Braves.
Tyler Cloyd (2-4) was tagged for seven runs on nine hits over four-plus innings.
The Phillies won two of three games from the Padres when the teams played in Philadelphia in June.
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