The Arizona Diamondbacks ended May with a win, just like they did during their major league-best month of April.
But this time they'll be more than happy to see the calendar turn.
After a forgettable month that featured three series sweeps, the Diamondbacks will look to start June on a positive note as they close a three-game series with the visiting Washington Nationals.
Arizona (31-25) is still atop the NL West despite losing 17 of 28 games in May following its 20-8 start, but all of a sudden manager Bob Melvin's team isn't quite looking like the sure thing it did a month ago.
May was the first time since September 2006 that the Diamondbacks had a losing record in a month.
"It hadn't been our best month," Melvin told the team's official Web site. "We had a great April, but we didn't have a good May, so we look forward to turning the page here in June."
Arizona at least found a way to end the month in impressive fashion. Ace Brandon Webb, who had lost consecutive starts after winning his first nine, rebounded on Saturday with a 4-0, complete-game victory against the Nationals (24-33).
The shutout was the eighth of Webb's career and gave him his major league-leading 10th win, but more importantly, stopped the Diamondbacks' season-high five-game losing streak.
"It's nice to get both of those done in one game," Webb said of ending his personal slide along with the team's. "To be able to come back and do that when the team's been struggling, hopefully that kind of jump-starts us."
Dan Haren (5-4, 3.75 ERA) will try to help the Diamondbacks win back-to-back game for the first time since May 15-16. Haren, however, has lost his last two starts, posting a 6.57 ERA.
He allowed five runs on nine hits over six innings on Tuesday in a 6-3 loss to San Francisco.
"I'm feeling really good, but I'm not getting the results," said Haren, who has never faced the Nationals. "But it's a long season, and we're only a third of the way through I'm not really worried about much."
Haren has received one or no runs of support in four of his last five starts, and the Diamondbacks, who scored nearly six runs a game in April, haven't surpassed four runs in any of their last six games.
The Nationals are scoring just 3.8 runs per game -- 28th in baseball -- and they've averaged just 3.2 runs over their last 13 games.
Webb's shutout Saturday was the seventh time Washington hasn't scored this season. No team in the NL has been shut out more.
The bad news for the Nationals, though, started before the game. Ryan Zimmerman, who had missed the past five games with a sore left shoulder, took batting practice for the first time in nearly a week on Saturday and still felt sore.
Zimmerman, who leads the team with eight homers and 27 RBIs, is unlikely to play Sunday and hasn't ruled out having an MRI if the pain persists.
"I think the plan that we have had is to see how it feels," Zimmerman told the team's official Web site. "We have an off day on Monday. We are not going to let this linger on forever."
Washington will turn to Shawn Hill (0-1, 4.02) as it tries to win its third road series of the season. Hill has made seven starts this season, but still hasn't won.
He took a no-decision on Tuesday in San Diego, when he gave up two runs on five hits in five innings in a 4-2 loss.