NATIONAL LEAGUE Marlins beat Pirates, 6-1; key series against Expos begins tonight

Florida is tied for the wild card lead.
MIAMI (AP) -- Back on the road the Florida Marlins go, and they believe this trip will be different.
The co-leaders in the NL wild card race begin a two-city, six-game swing today against Montreal in Puerto Rico. The Marlins went 1-8 on their last trip, then rallied to win six of seven in Miami, capping the homestand Thursday by beating Pittsburgh 5-1.
"We bounce back," pitcher Carl Pavano said. "I think this trip is going to be different. We've got good momentum going."
The Marlins remain tied with Philadelphia atop the wild card standings, but 13 of their next 16 games are away. Florida is 46-26 at home and 30-38 on the road.
"I'm not even thinking about that," manager Jack McKeon said. "I expect to see the same team I see here" in Miami.
Good pitching and hitting
The Marlins' final 22 games will be against the NL East, and they'll be tough to beat if they continue to pitch the way they did on the homestand, when their ERA was 1.86. Pavano limited the Pirates to seven hits and one run -- on Matt Stairs' 17th homer -- in 61/3 innings.
The Marlins overcame that with three home runs of their own by the unlikely trio of Juan Pierre, Alex Gonzalez and Ramon Castro.
Pierre hit his first home run in 572 at-bats this season. Gonzalez, who began the game in a 1-for-25 slump, hit his 16th homer.
And Castro, batting for the first time since he was charged with raping a woman in his Pittsburgh hotel room last week, hit his fourth home run pinch-hitting in the seventh.
"That made me feel a lot better," said Castro, who has said he's innocent. "It's tough, but right now I feel good."
Salomon Torres (5-4) retired the first nine batters before Pierre pulled a pitch over the wall for his first home run since last Sept. 29 to put Florida ahead. It was Pierre's fourth career homer in 1,981 at-bats.
"He deserves at least one home run this year," Pavano said.
Bucs were bad
Michael Tejera (2-3) retired both batters he faced and stranded the potential go-ahead run at second in the seventh. Pittsburgh went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
"We were bad," manager Lloyd McClendon said. "We just didn't have quality at-bats when we needed them."
Torres departed with one out in the seventh and the score 1-all, but the next four batters reached against the Pirates' bullpen. Torres, who gave up four hits and was charged with two runs, is 0-2 in his past seven starts.
"I want to win and I expect to win, but I feel good about the way I pitched today," Torres said. "I'll have to take the good and throw the bad out."
Juan Encarnacion started the seventh-inning rally with an infield single, and Derrek Lee walked. Mike Lincoln replaced Torres and gave up an RBI single by Miguel Cabrera. Gonzalez then hit a hanging curve by Lincoln for a homer.