WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- The Washington Nationals need one victory to match their total of last season when they were based in Montreal.
Washington aims for its 67th win on Thursday in the finale of a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds.
After winning 11 straight decisions earlier this year, Livan Hernandez (14-5, 3.80 ERA) has two victories in nine starts for the Nationals. He lasted two innings against the New York Mets last Saturday, yielding eight runs and seven hits.
Cincinnati's Brandon Claussen (8-8, 4.50) looks for his fifth consecutive victory. He yielded three runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings of last Friday's triumph over Arizona.
John Patterson remained unbeaten at RFK Stadium this season by working 8 1/3 effective innings in Wednesday's 5-3 victory over the Reds.
Jose Guillen hit his 23rd home run for Washington, which is last in the National League with 95 homers, including just 34 at home. Cincinnati leads the league with 180.
lineups:
Code:
CINCINNATI AT WASHINGTON -- LINEUPS
CINCINNATI WASHINGTON
AVG HR RBI AVG HR RBI
Felipe Lopez SS .290 19 63 Brad Wilkerson LF .246 8 44
Rich Aurilia 2B .279 13 53 Jose Vidro 2B .271 7 30
Ken Griffey Jr CF .294 29 85 Nick Johnson 1B .298 12 57
Adam Dunn LF .252 34 83 Jose Guillen RF .302 23 67
Sean Casey 1B .318 8 50 Preston Wilson CF .263 21 68
Austin Kearns RF .245 12 47 Vinny Castilla 3B .248 10 57
Jason Larue C .270 10 48 Gary Bennett C .248 1 17
Edwin Encarnacion 3B .245 5 15 Jamey Carroll SS .238 0 16
Brandon Claussen LHP .026 0 0 Livan Hernandez RHP .238 2 6
(8-8, 4.50) (14-5, 3.80)