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NYY@ATL: Hudson fans eight in six innings of work

The Braves return home on Tuesday to start a three-game series with the Diamondbacks, which begins a 10-game homestand for Atlanta. The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, are starting a six-game road trip. Tuesday will be the first ever matchup between right-handers Tim Hudson and Daniel Hudson.

For Tim Hudson, it will be his third start since bone chips in his left ankle forced him to be pushed back a couple of days following his shutout of the Marlins on June 5. Both those starts came against the Yankees, and he allowed a combined six runs on 10 hits in 11 innings.

Hudson said he will need to undergo surgery in the offseason to remove the bone spurs. The surgery has a two-month recovery time, which has prevented him from even considering having the surgery during the season.

"Because [my ankle] is a weight-bearing joint, it would be a two-month thing," Hudson said. "If it was an elbow or a wrist, it would be like a month or not even. It's not a big deal. It's just another offseason surgery. I've got to get my 200-inning oil change every year."

While Tim Hudson is learning to manage his latest injury, Daniel Hudson has struggled to be consistent as he returns from a right-shoulder impingement that forced him to miss more than a month of action this season.

Since returning from the 15-day disabled list, Hudson has made five starts. Two of them have been quality starts, but he has twice allowed more than five runs in four or fewer innings. In his last start, Hudson allowed seven runs on 10 hits on Tuesday against the Mariners.

Manager Kurt Gibson said Hudson's struggles against the Mariners stemmed from an inability to command his off-speed pitches.

"They're a very aggressive team," Gibson said of Seattle. "And if you notice, early he'd get behind in the count and he'd throw his changeup or his secondary stuff, and he wasn't getting strikes, they weren't good enough to get swings. In the end, he was elevating a little bit."

Braves: Heyward's hot streak continues
• Right fielder Jason Heyward carries a 10-game hitting streak into Tuesday's series opener. Heyward has hit .459 (17-for-37) with 10 extra base hits during the streak.

Heyward went 3-for-4 with a home run and two runs in the Braves' 9-4 loss to the Red Sox on Sunday.

• Tuesday signifies a return to National League play after 15 consecutive Interleague games for the Braves. They went 8-10 in Interleague Play this season.

The return to National League ballparks mean the Braves pitchers will go back to hitting after a break during last week's road trip to New York and Boston. Atlanta pitchers are hitting .134 this season, only slightly worse than their designated hitters, who went 5-for-30.

Diamondbacks: Arizona heating up in June
• Arizona finished off a sweep of the Cubs with a 5-1 victory on Sunday, extending its winning streak to four games. The Diamondbacks are 14-7 in June, and have climbed to 5 1/2 games behind the first-place Dodgers in the National League West.

Before sweeping the Cubs pushed their record to 37-35, the Diamondbacks had not been above .500 since May 4, when they were 14-13.

• After a sluggish start to the season, right fielder Justin Upton has started to heat up. He is hitting .324 in June, though just four of his 21 hits have gone for extra bases.

Worth noting
• Tim Hudson has not allowed an extra-base hit to any current member of the Diamondbacks. They are hitting just .159 against the veteran right-hander.

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