Cincinnati @ Washington preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 7, 2013 ) Washington 3, Cincinnati 6

A pair of 2012 division winners meet for the second time already this season when the Cincinnati Reds visit the Washington Nationals in the first of four games beginning Thursday. The hosts have dropped four in a row after a 4-2 loss to St. Louis on Wednesday. Washington has managed just four runs during the slide and has been held to two runs or fewer 10 times already. The Nationals are 5-1 against lowly Miami and 5-10 against all others.

That losing mark includes a series in Cincinnati earlier this month which saw the Reds take two of three. Cincinnati hit the skids after that series but has rebounded to win eight of its last 10, capped by a tidy 1-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday. Mat Latos worked seven scoreless innings and Todd Frazier slugged his team-leading sixth home run as the Reds improved to 12-4 at home.

TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Ohio (Cincinnati), Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (Washington)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Reds RH Bronson Arroyo (2-1, 3.54 ERA) vs. Nationals LH Gio Gonzalez (1-1, 5.85)

One of the more unheralded members of Cincinnati's stable rotation, Arroyo has thrown at least eight innings in consecutive starts for the first time since the end of the 2011 season. If he does it again against Washington it will mark the first time he has put together three straight such efforts since 2006. Arroyo has walked only three batters in 28 innings this season. He allowed two runs in eight innings in a win over Miami on Saturday, recording his 1,000th strikeout as a Red in the process. The veteran has a 2.11 ERA in three career starts in Nationals Park.

After a spring shrouded in controversy when his name surfaced in a steroid probe, Gonzalez started strong. He has since posted a pair of rocky outings, giving up 12 runs on 12 hits and seven walks in just nine innings against Atlanta and the New York Mets. Last season's major league-leader in wins with 21, Gonzalez is 10-5 with a 2.70 ERA in his career at Nationals Park, which includes seven scoreless innings there against Cincinnati last April. The southpaw owns a 0.95 ERA in three career starts vs. the Reds.

WALK-OFFS

1. Reds CF Shin-Soo Choo has four multi-hit efforts in his last five games.

2. Washington is 1-5 in a stretch that sees it play 17 games in 17 days.

3. Cincinnati closer Aroldis Chapman has allowed one run, on a solo homer, in 11 1/3 innings.

PREDICTION: Reds 4, Nationals 3