(Sports Network) - Cole Hamels will try to build off the first shutout of his career tonight for the Philadelphia Phillies, who resume a three-game series with the Washington Nationals.

Hamels scattered four hits and two walks while keeping the Atlanta Braves off the board Thursday in Philadelphia. He also struck out six on the way to winning his second straight start, while limiting Atlanta to just three singles and a double over 120 pitches.

The left-handed phenom is 5-3 with a 2.89 earned run average on the season, with one of those losses coming versus the Nationals on April 2. Hamels, though, held them to only a run on five hits over eight innings. Ryan Zimmerman's solo homer in the sixth frame was enough to lift Washington to a 1-0 win over Hamels in a game in which the Phils posted only one hit.

The setback dropped Hamels to 4-3 with a 2.49 ERA in 10 career starts against the Nats.

Tim Redding started against Hamels on that day, and he was able to shut down the Phillies again in Monday's opener. The right-hander threw 6 1/3 shutout innings yesterday after blanking Philadelphia for seven innings back on April 2.

Redding (6-3) scattered seven hits, walked two and struck out a pair for the Nationals, who have won two in a row. Dmitri Young plated a run in the first inning with a sacrifice fly and Lastings Milledge had a two-run double in the third for the Nationals, who won the 3,000th game in franchise history. They notched 2,755 of those victories in Montreal as the Expos.

Zimmerman went 2-for-3 and is hitting .258 (8-for-31) in his career against Hamels with a pair of solo homers. Cristian Guzman, meanwhile, had three hits and scored three runs on Monday and has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games, batting .354 (23-for-65) with six doubles and 16 runs scored.

Shane Victorino, Chase Utley and Geoff Jenkins all had two hits for Philadelphia, which has only been shut out twice this season, both times at the hands of the Nationals.

Brett Myers (2-5) struggled early but managed to limit Washington to three runs on eight hits and three walks in six innings of work. The Phillies, though, left nine men on base and went on to lose their season-high third straight.

The Nationals start Jason Bergmann tonight, and he is also coming off of an outing in which he didn't allow a run. Bergmann didn't quite go the distance, but he tossed seven shutout innings against the Mets and yielded just three hits and two walks while striking out nine to win his first game of the season (1-1).

The right-hander got a no-decision when he faced the Phillies on April 3, allowing five runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings. The Nats led that game 5-0 after the first frame, but the Phils went ahead with a six-run sixth inning and later won in extra frames. Bergmann gave up back-to-back run- scoring singles to Pat Burrell and Geoff Jenkins, and Saul Rivera later let those two inherited runners score in the big inning.

Bergmann is 0-2 with a 4.54 ERA in nine games (6 starts) versus the Phillies.

Utley is hitting .311 on the season with 14 homers and 31 RBI, but is a lifetime .188 batter (3-for-16) versus Bergmann. Ryan Howard is hitting .250 (3-for-12) against him with a homer, four RBI, six walks and four strikeouts.

The Nationals won two of three games at Philadelphia earlier in the season, but lost 12 of 18 against the club last year.