(Best E Casino) - The NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs could certainly use a boost right now as they try to avoid being swept in three games by the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight at Chase Field.

Chicago has lost the first two tests of this series to watch its lead in the division standings shrink to just one game over Milwaukee and two games ahead of St. Louis. In Tuesday's 9-2 setback to the Diamondbacks, Daryle Ward hit a solo home run and Mike Fontenot had the other RBI for the Cubs, who have dropped five of six.

Cubs starter Jason Marquis was saddled with the loss after permitting three runs on five hits in six innings of work.

In injury news for Lou Pin1ella's ballclub, All-Star outfielder Alfonso Soriano could make his return to the diamond this evening following a stint on the disabled lost because of broken finger. Soriano has been sidelined since June 11 because of the problem, but is getting back to form with two successful minor league rehab starts this week.

The Cubs leadoff man is batting .283 with 15 home runs and 40 RBI in 51 games this season. Chicago is 16-18 with Soriano sidelined with his current injury.

Toeing the rubber for the Cubs on Wednesday will be Ted Lilly, who is 9-6 with a 4.49 ERA in 21 starts this season. Lilly is winless in his last three trips to the hill and did not factor in the outcome of a 2-1 loss at Houston on Friday. He hurled seven innings of one-run ball in a losing effort.

Lilly will square off with Arizona for the second time this season, having already topped the D'Backs on May 9 with seven solid frames of one-run ball. He also fanned 10 batters that day to improve to 1-2 with a 2.74 ERA in five career appearances (3 starts) against Arizona.

The Diamondbacks have won three of their last four games to grab a one-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West standings. LA lost to Colorado on Tuesday.

Conor Jackson went 3-for-5 with a solo home run, three RBI and two runs scored to lead the charge in Tuesday's triumph. Orlando Hudson hit a solo home run, but left in the eighth inning after getting hit in the right ankle with a pitch. Stephen Drew had an RBI and scored twice in a winning cause.

Yusmeiro Petit earned the win after he gave up just one run on three hits in five innings of work for Arizona.

Doug Davis gets the nod for the D'Backs tonight and he is 3-4 with a 4.14 earned run average in 13 starts this season. Davis has just one win over his past 10 starts and did not factor in the decision of his team's 8-7 setback to the Dodgers on Friday, yielding five runs -- four earned -- in three innings.

The left-hander is 7-5 with a 3.39 earned run average in 13 career starts against the Cubs.

The D'Backs won two of three from Chicago at Chase Field last year, but the Cubs swept a three-game set from Arizona in the Windy City in May.