Arizona (28-16) owns the best record in the majors thanks to a 19-8 mark at Chase Field.

The Diamondbacks have played 10 fewer games on the road than at home, and begin a grueling stretch of 26 of their next 38 games on the road with Tuesday's opener. They open this stretch as a confident team, though.

Arizona defeated Detroit 4-0 on Sunday, and has won five of six after dropping six of its previous eight.

"A lot of times, the momentum you get from a good start carries over during the course of the season," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin told the team's official Web site.

Florida (24-19) got off to a strong start and had the majors' best record of 23-14 on May 11, but little has gone right since.

The Marlins lost to Kansas City 9-3 on Sunday and has dropped five of six following a season-high six-game winning streak.

"It's definitely nice to know we're still in first place," said second baseman Dan Uggla, who was 2-for-4 with an RBI double on Sunday. "We can pull out of this, trust me."

Uggla is batting .531 (17-for-32) with five home runs, four doubles, 11 RBIs and 12 runs during a season-high nine-game hitting streak, and nine of his 13 homers have come in the last 15 games.

Mark Hendrickson (5-2, 3.91 ERA) takes the ball for the Marlins in the series opener looking to bounce back from a couple of shaky starts.

After allowing one run, seven hits, two walks and making a season-high 109 pitches in a season-low 4 1-3 innings of a 7-2 win over Milwaukee on May 8, the right-hander gave up four runs, eight hits and issued a season-high five walks in five innings of a 5-3 loss to Cincinnati last Tuesday.

"The last two games, I've had trouble finding my rhythm," said Hendrickson, who was 5-0 with a 2.79 ERA in his previous six starts. "The hits you can't control, but the walks made it hard on myself. A lot of my problems were self-induced."

In his only start against Arizona last season on May 2, Hendrickson gave up three hits and struck out seven in six shutout innings of a 2-1 win for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is 3-1 with a 3.70 ERA in four career starts versus the Diamondbacks.

Arizona counters with Micah Owings (5-1, 3.81), who looks to build off his latest outing.

Owings allowed five hits and struck out five in six scoreless innings of a 4-3 win over Colorado on Wednesday for his first victory since April 21. The right-hander was 0-1 with a 7.13 ERA in his previous three starts after posting a 2.42 ERA in winning his first four outings.

In his only career start versus the Marlins on July 26, Owings yielded four runs and six hits in just three innings of Arizona's 7-4 win. Owings, who is batting .357 (10-for-28) with a homer, hit a two-run shot in his start against Florida last year.

Chris Young, who leads Arizona with nine home runs, batted .387 (12-for-31) with four solo homers, two doubles and nine runs in seven games against the Marlins last season.

The Diamondbacks won six of seven over Florida in 2007.