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CIN@LAD: Billingsley fans eight in six strong frames

On Saturday at Chase Field, the Dodgers and D-backs will both have starters ready to snap their losing streaks and head into the All-Star break with a little momentum.

Dodgers right-hander Chad Billingsley comes into Saturday's contest having lost his last four outings, while D-backs right-hander Trevor Cahill is in the midst of a two-game slide.

During his four-game losing streak, Billingsley has had his fair share of struggles and bad luck. He's allowed 17 runs on 35 hits during the stretch but has still made two quality starts.

Monday marked one of those quality starts, with the right-hander giving up three runs on eight hits in six innings against the Reds.

Meanwhile, Cahill is 0-2 with a 4.91 ERA in his last two starts, combining to surrender 10 runs on 11 hits.

Many of Cahill's woes in his last two starts have come from serving up costly home runs. The right-hander, who allowed only three home runs through his first 13 starts, has surrendered four home runs in his last two contests.

However, he ran into some bad luck in his previous outing against the Padres, committing a two-run error that helped San Diego to a 6-2 win. In all, the right-hander allowed four runs on seven hits in six innings.

"I didn't feel confident in throwing any of my off-speed pitches for strikes," Cahill said after his last start. "They were swinging early and I couldn't get my off-speed pitches over for strikes, so I had to go [to the] fastball. With an aggressive team like that, they know what's coming, they are going to hit it."

Dodgers: Ethier to begin rehab next week
• Manager Don Mattingly said on Friday that Andre Ethier will join Class A Rancho Cucamonga next Wednesday and Thursday before he and Matt Kemp will rejoin the Dodgers to start the second half of the season if all goes according to plan.

"I'm glad he's going to play," Mattingly said. "It's not that he necessarily needs to play, though. If he's feeling it, we'd rather know he needs more time than activate him. If we activate him and he feels something, that's 15 more days."

• Shortstop Dee Gordon's right thumb surgery on Friday went as planned, and Mattingly hopes the 24-year-old will resume baseball activities in a week.

"He's doing well, it sounds OK," Mattingly said. "It went pretty much as expected, still same time frame. We definitely needed to do it."

D-backs: CEO Hall may need further treatment
• Team president and CEO Derrick Hall's recent prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test showed an increase from his last one and could indicate he will need to undergo further treatment.

Hall was diagnosed last September with prostate cancer and had his prostate removed in November.

"[Thursday] I got the phone call from the doctor 10 minutes before first pitch," Hall said. "He told me that my PSA number went up, which is never a good sign after you've had prostate surgery. It means there could be some cells there that could require further treatment, likely radiation. So we'll wait three months and take the test again."

• The D-backs will host their first alumni baseball game on Sept. 15, highlighted by former D-backs players taking the field after the conclusion of the team's game against the Giants. Among the players scheduled to attend are Luis Gonzalez, Steve Finley, Matt Williams, Reggie Sanders, Tony Womack, Devon White, David Dellucci, Mike Fetters, Greg Swindell and Junior Spivey.

Worth noting
• Dodgers first baseman James Loney has the highest batting average all-time at Chase Field among players who have a minimum of 100 at-bats with a .393 average (68-for-173).

• This season against the Dodgers, D-backs outfielder Justin Upton is hitting .370 (10-for-27) with one home run and seven RBIs.

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