Football
18y

Arizona (36-35) at Tampa Bay (30-41) 7:15 pm EDT

Arizona (36-35) at Tampa Bay (30-41) 7:15 pm EDT

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Brandon Webb entered June
as the hottest pitcher in baseball. He and the rest of the
Arizona Diamondbacks since have fallen upon tough times.

Webb will seek his first win in nearly a month Wednesday, when
he faces the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the second of three games
at Tropicana Field.

The 27-year-old Webb (8-2, 2.37 ERA) did not allow a run in his
final three starts of May, posting back-to-back shutouts against
Atlanta and Cincinnati and working seven scoreless frames of an
epic pitchers' duel with the New York Mets' Pedro Martinez on
May 31.

Webb had a franchise-record 30-inning scoreless streak ended on
June 5 and had his season-opening winning streak halted at eight
games by the Mets five days later. In his most recent start
Friday, he allowed five runs and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings of a
5-3 loss at Texas.

In his only previous start against the Devil Rays, Webb allowed
two runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings of a 2-1 loss on June 20,
2004.

Tampa Bay posted an 8-5 win in Tuesday's series opener, handing
Arizona a 13th loss in 15 games since it opened the month with a
four-game sweep in Atlanta.

The Diamondbacks will try to keep from falling to the .500 mark
for the first time since May 1 when they face rookie James
Shields (3-0, 3.13) on Wednesday. The 24-year-old Shields has
posted a 1.50 ERA in winning his last three starts, with the
most recent being a 10-4 win in Philadelphia on Friday to ruin
fellow rookie Cole Hamels' home debut.

Carl Crawford singled and doubled in four at-bats against Webb
two years ago and currently is one of the Devil Rays' hottest
hitters. During his current eight-game hitting streak, Crawford
has batted .400 (16-for-40) with four homers and eight RBI.

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