(My Sportsbook) - Right-hander Aaron Harang will try to win consecutive starts for the first time this season tonight when the Cincinnati Reds close out a three-game midweek series with the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.

Harang, a 16-game winner in each of the last two seasons, has plummeted through a disappointing and injury plagued 2008, recently going six straight starts without a victory as his record plunged to 3-13.

He turned it around at least briefly in his last outing, however blanking the Colorado Rockies over six innings of the Reds' 8-5 triumph at Coors Field on Aug. 22.

The second-to-last defeat of the aforementioned skid came against the Astros, when Harang dropped a 13-4 decision after allowing nine hits and eight runs in just four innings of an Aug. 10 game in Cincinnati.

He is 8-6 with a complete game and a 4.49 earned run average in 18 lifetime starts against Houston.

For the Astros, 30-year-old right-hander Brandon Backe can remain unbeaten for his career against the Reds.

He's 3-0 in nine games - five starts - against Cincinnati, posting a 3.16 ERA ovr 31 1/3 innings.

Backe also picked up a win in his last start, scattering five hits and three runs in seven innings of an 8-3 downing of the New York Mets on Aug. 23 at Shea Stadium.

The Galveston, Texas native is an inconsistent 3-4 with three no-decisions over his last 10 starts and 2-2 over his last four, including losses to the Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks in which he was raked for 18 hits and 22 runs in nine innings.

In the two wins, he's given up just nine hits and four runs in 14 innings.

On Wednesday, Roy Oswalt continued his mastery of the Reds with seven strong innings to lead the Astros to a 4-1 win.

Oswalt (12-9) allowed one run on five hits with three strikeouts for the Astros, who evened this three-game series and in the process snapped a two- game skid.

Oswalt improved to an incredible 22-1 in his career against the Reds, including a 3-0 mark this season.

Hunter Pence and Ty Wigginton both hit a two-run homer and Lance Berkman registered three hits with a run scored in the win.

Jeff Keppinger scored the only run for the Reds, who have dropped three of their last four games.

Josh Fogg (2-7) suffered the loss despite a solid outing in which he allowed two runs on six hits over six innings.

The Astros swept a four-game series in Cincinnati from August 7-10 and have won nine of the 11 matchups between the teams so far this season. Houston is 20-6 against the Reds since the start of the 2007 campaign.