Braves.com
ATLANTA -- It's been five days since the Braves last faced a left-handed starter, but for part-time left fielder Matt Diaz, it feels like an eternity.

Diaz, who starts against left-handed pitchers, didn't start a game during the recently completed three-game series with the Giants. With Arizona sending three right-handed starters to the mound in the weekend series at Turner Field, there's a good chance that Diaz won't get significant playing time until next week.

In the first two games of a three-game set with Cincinnati, the Reds are scheduled to start lefties Phil Dumatrait and Bobby Livingston. The Braves used the same lineup, which doesn't include Diaz, for the fourth straight game on Friday against the Diamondbacks.

"This was a common occurrence last year," Diaz said. "This year, I've been fortunate that we've been playing a lot of lefties and I've been getting to play a lot. It seems like it's been a while, but you can't really complain."

Diaz had 297 at-bats with the Braves last season in 124 games. This year, he's collected 254 at-bats in 100 games, thanks in part to the dependence manager Bobby Cox has on Diaz to be the first hitter off the bench.

Willie Harris, who starts against right-handers, will be in left field for the fourth consecutive game, a mark that Harris has reached four times this season. Diaz has started more than three games in a row twice.

The stretch as a reserve comes at an inopportune time for Diaz, who has been a hot hitter all season but was enjoying a particularly good stretch. He's had a hit in each of the last eight games in which he's had at least three at-bats and he recently hit four home runs in a 22 at-bat stretch.

Earlier this month, Diaz started two games against right-handed starters when Andruw Jones was nursing a sore elbow.

"I had gotten to play a lot before, with [Jones] getting some days off with his elbow," Diaz said. "That was great -- that's what got me on the hot streak, was getting to play every day for a while."

Adding to Diaz's value is that he's proven his ability as a pinch-hitter. That's important, because Atlanta's bench isn't as potent with shortstop Edgar Renteria on the disabled list, which has forced rookie Yunel Escobar into an everyday role.

Diaz has shown his ability to hit right-handers, boasting a .333 average against them in 108 at-bats. He has 13 pinch-hits in 38 at-bats this season.

"I pride myself on the fact that I've made the adjustment to not being an everyday player," Diaz said. "Mentally, I'm ready to pinch-hit every day and against lefties I'm ready to play every day. Hopefully it won't be a downturn when I do get to start again."

Renteria closer: Renteria, who sprained his ankle while bending back to field a line drive on Aug. 2, is eligible to return from the disabled list on Saturday. That won't happen, but Renteria could and probably will return early next week.

Renteria did some light jogging on Friday and took batting practice indoors, but Cox said there are still hurdles that Renteria has to clear before returning to the lineup.

"Run the bases, batting practice, going in the hole at short," Cox said when discussing Renteria's current limitations. "He's getting close, though, he's right on target. [Initially] we thought it was going to take six weeks, maybe four. Now, three would be probably long."

A part of history: Former Atlanta catcher Eddie Perez, now the Braves' bullpen catcher, found himself with a major piece of baseball memorabilia on Wednesday.

When Barry Bonds hit his 759th career homer at Turner Field, a security official retrieved the ball when it landed between the fence and the first row of seats. He quickly tossed it to an unsuspecting Perez, who was hounded by fans to give up the ball.

"Everybody started offering money for that ball," Perez said. "'I'll give you $5,000, I'll give you this, I'll give you that.' So I just put it in my pocket."

The security guard, possibly seeing dollar signs, decided he wanted the ball back. Perez would have obliged, but he found out Bonds wanted the ball back, so he gave it to a bat boy, who sent it to the Giants' clubhouse.

"If he didn't want it, I probably would have given it back to security," Perez said. "But [Bonds] wanted it, so I wanted to make sure he got it."

Franc-Who?-r: Right fielder Jeff Francoeur got in a hurry when heading to the field before Thursday's game, and he hastily grabbed one of the jerseys hanging in his locker.

But he grabbed the wrong one and played the first few innings of the game with a jersey that read F-R-A-N-C-O-U-E-R.

"They had an extra one back there, and I guess that's why it was back there, because it was misspelled," Francoeur said. "I guess after my second time up they came down and told me to change it."

With such a difficult name to spell, Francoeur said many people believed they had been misspelling it, and that the version of his name on Friday night's jersey was the correct one.

"I think that's what a lot of people thought," Francoeur said. "I finally had to tell them that it was my fault."

Coming up: The Braves play the second game of a three-game series with the National League West-leading Diamondbacks at 7:05 p.m. ET Saturday night at Turner Field. Buddy Carlyle (7-4, 4.39 ERA) starts for Atlanta against Micah Owings (5-6, 4.76).