Los Angeles, CA (My Sportsbook) - The surging Atlanta Braves kick off a 10- game road trip tonight with the opener of a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Braves, who will also visit San Diego and Cincinnati on this road swing, enter tonight's contest with a 10-5 road mark. The Braves have won nine of their last 10 games outside of Turner Field.

Atlanta has won two straight overall, 12 of 14 and 21 of its last 25 contests.

Shane Reynolds gets the call to the mound tonight for the NL East-leading Braves, who are three games ahead of Montreal in the standings. Reynolds is scheduled to make his sixth start of the season tonight. In his last outing, the 35-year-old righthander beat the Rockies, 12-6, Thursday in the first game of a doubleheader.

Reynolds is 7-8 with a 3.43 ERA in 20 career games versus the Dodgers.

The Dodgers also enter tonight's contest on a hot streak, having won four of their last five games.

Pitching tonight for the Dodgers will be Hideo Nomo, who won his last start, Wednesday against the Mets when he allowed three hits and a run over 7 1/3 innings. The righthander, who is 18-5 in his last 34 starts, has allowed three earned runs or less in six of his eight starts this season.

Nomo is 3-2 in 12 career starts against the Braves.

Yesterday, Javy Lopez belted a three-run homer and Marcus Giles added an RBI triple to lead Atlanta past San Francisco, 7-3, in a rain-soaked finale of their three-game set at Turner Field. The game was delayed for almost two hours in the bottom of the fifth inning because of heavy rain in the Atlanta area. Lopez and Giles each smacked three hits for the Braves.

Shawn Green homered to lead Los Angeles over Montreal, 4-3, yesterday in the rubber match of a three-game set. Alex Cora and Cesar Izturis each scored a run on two hits apiece for the Dodgers, who went 4-2 on a six-game road trip.

Starting tonight, LA will play 18 of its next 24 games at Dodger Stadium. This will mark the start of a nine-game homestand.

This is the first meeting of the season between Atlanta and Los Angeles. The Dodgers went 4-2 versus the Braves last year and have captured nine of the last 12 games against Atlanta.

Braves shortstop Rafael Furcal has reached base safely in 20 straight games.