McCarthy, Beckett both shoot for first win of season in Los Angeles

Josh Beckett and Brandon McCarthy have won nearly 170 games between the two of them during their major league careers.

None of those have come this season.

The winless right-handers square off on Tuesday night when the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks continue a three-game series.

Beckett, owner of 132 wins in his career, is 0-4 with a 5.24 earned run average through six starts this season, while McCarthy has posted a mark of 0-3 with a 7.22 ERA in the same number of outings. Their clubs are a combined 3-9 in games started by the veterans.

The 32-year-old Beckett has kept his team in a couple of the game he has started this campaign, but that wasn't really the case on Wednesday against the Colorado Rockies. He was charged with five runs -- four earned -- on five hits and three walks over a season-low four innings of a 7-3 setback.

"This is probably Josh's least effective start," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said afterwards. "He seemed to be off all night. It was a battle for him out there."

Beckett was involved in a tight battle with the Diamondbacks back on April 14 and pitched well enough to earn a victory. He yielded just one run over 8 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts, but was handed a 1-0 defeat.

McCarthy, meanwhile, left his last start with a lead despite not pitching all that great. He allowed four runs on eight hits, two homers and a walk with six strikeouts over six innings against the San Francisco Giants, but the bullpen faltered in a 9-6 loss.

"Overall it was encouraging but there are little things I can do to smooth out the rough edges," McCarthy said on his team's website. "The stuff is there, it's just making sure you put together the whole game plan."

The 29-year-old, who has allowed fewer than four runs in just one of his starts this season, has faced the Dodgers once before and tossed a gem in a June 19 victory of last season while with the Oakland Athletics. He scattered two hits and a walk over seven scoreless innings with five strikeouts in a 3-0 win.

Arizona came into Monday's opener having lost five of six, but defeated Los Angeles for the 13th time in the last 16 meetings with a 9-2 win.

Trevor Cahill hurled seven innings of two-run ball and also hit a triple that scored two runs. Paul Goldschmidt went 4-for-5 with a homer and three RBI, while Cody Ross added a solo shot.

"There were a lot of good at-bats tonight." Goldschmidt said.

Chris Capuano was reinstated from the disabled list Monday and was shelled for six runs -- five earned -- in his second start of the season. The veteran lasted just four-plus innings and allowed eight hits and two walks.

"You're really excited to get back out there and compete. That's the reward for all the hard work you put in. So it's very frustrating when it doesn't go your way," Capuano said.

Carl Crawford hit a solo homer for the Dodgers but also had a pair of defensive mishaps that led to big innings for the opposition. That included a drop of a routine fly ball in the fifth during the exchange from his glove to his hand (it was ruled that he never made the catch) one batter before Goldschmidt's two-run homer. Ross followed with his solo home run.

With their fifth straight loss, the Dodgers dropped into last place in the NL West, a half game behind the San Diego Padres. Los Angeles is just 5-14 against its division this season.