(Sports Network) - The Pittsburgh Pirates hope a shift into September can cure their losing woes. The club begins a three-game series with the Cincinnati Reds tonight at Great American Ball Park.

After an off day on Monday, the Pirates enter this set on a season-high 10- game losing streak. Pittsburgh was swept in three games by Milwaukee to close August, a month in which the club went just 7-21.

Pittsburgh managed just one hit off Brewers ace CC Sabathia on Sunday in a 7-0 loss, a slow roller down the third-base line by Andy LaRoche that Sabathia failed to handle cleanly.

It marked the second time in their last four games that the Pirates had been shutout, with Pittsburgh scoring four runs in that four-game span. On the other side, the Pirates have allowed double-digit runs in five of their 10 losses.

Pittsburgh begins a 10-game road trip tonight and has lost its last four on the road, where it is 34-37 this year.

Ian Snell will try to get Pittsburgh into the win column, but he is just 5-10 with a 5.77 earned run average this year. The right-hander allowed five runs on five hits and four walks in a no-decision to the Cubs on Tuesday.

Snell has a 7.07 ERA in 14 road outings this year and is 1-2 with a 6.23 ERA in three starts against the Reds in 2008. He pitched decent the last time he faced them, yielding two runs on six hits but also walking five over six innings of a loss on August 14 that dropped him to 3-6 with a 5.58 ERA in 10 lifetime starts versus Cincinnati.

The Reds, meanwhile, resume a nine-game homestand that they began with a three-game sweep of San Francisco. Joey Votto paced the club in Sunday's 9-3 victory, notching four hits and four RBI to back Bronson Arroyo's seven-inning effort. Arroyo also had a two-run double and stole his first career base.

Jeff Keppinger went 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and three runs scored for the Reds, who have won four of their last six games.

Votto is hitting .433 (13-for-30) with three RBI in nine career games versus the Pirates and is 4-for-6 with an RBI lifetime versus Snell.

Aaron Harang will start for the Reds. A 16-game winner in each of the last two seasons, Harang fell to 4-14 with a 5.27 ERA after a loss to Houston on Thursday. He gave up three runs -- all on solo homers -- and seven hits over seven frames with nine strikeouts one start after beating Colorado with six shutout innings on August 22 to halt a four-decision losing streak.

The 30-year-old right-hander is 11-4 with a 4.28 ERA in 19 career starts against the Pirates, but is 0-1 in two starts against them this year.

Pittsburgh has won seven of 12 versus Cincinnati this year, with the clubs splitting six games at Great American Ball Park so far.