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Arizona (51-49) at Philadelphia (45-53) 1:05 pm EDT

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- The Arizona Diamondbacks have no answers for Chase Utley. Then again, neither does anyone else at this point.

Riding the longest hitting streak in the major leagues this season, Utley leads the Philadelphia Phillies against the Diamondbacks on Thursday in the rubber game of a three-game set.

Utley extended his career-best hitting streak to 26 games on Wednesday with a three-run homer in the second inning. The All-Star second baseman, who homered twice in Tuesday's series opener, is batting .398 with 16 multi-hit efforts during his streak.

David Dellucci also homered Wednesday and Jon Lieber picked up his first victory in more than two months as the Phillies snapped a three-game skid with a 6-4 triumph.

Arizona, which had won 11 of its previous 14 games, will try and bounce back behind Claudio Vargas (8-6, 5.16 ERA). The righthander ended a personal two-game losing streak Friday with a 6-2 win against Colorado, yielding two runs in six innings.

Vargas has faced the Phillies nine times in his career, including seven starts, and owns a 1-2 record with a 7.05 ERA. Philadelphia is hitting .307 against the 28-year-old Dominican.

The Phillies counter with Cory Lidle (7-7, 4.91), who is in search of his fourth consecutive win. The veteran sinkerballer logged a season-high eight innings against Atlanta on Friday, allowing three runs in the 6-5 victory.

Lidle is 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA in two career games against the Diamondbacks.