Infante, Lowe tame Pirates

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Omar Infante had three hits, Derek Lowe beat Pittsburgh for the 10th straight time and the Atlanta Braves got the breakout victory they badly needed, beating the Pirates 9-3 on Wednesday night.

The Braves opened leads of 3-0 in the first and 8-0 in the third after being held to two runs or fewer in five of their previous six games. They had lost three in a row to fall out of the NL East lead for the first time since May 31, dropping a half-game behind Philadelphia.

That margin held when the Phillies beat Florida 10-6 on Wednesday night, but the Braves lead the wild-card race by 1 1/2 games over San Francisco, which played at Arizona.

After his Braves lost twice in as many days to the team with the majors’ worst record, manager Bobby Cox said the solution to the slide was simple: Score more runs. This is apparently what he was seeking.

Pirates starter Zach Duke (7-13) retired only three of 11 batters, giving up six hits and walking two in one-plus inning. Alex Gonzalez’s two-run single finished off a three-run first, and Duke was lifted after Lowe doubled, Infante singled and Jason Heyward walked to start the second.

Reliever Daniel McCutchen wasn’t much better, walking Derrek Lee to force in a run in the second before giving up four runs, three earned, in the third. McCutchen’s own throwing error on Lowe’s sacrifice scored a run, Infante singled in another and Martin Prado had a two-run single.

Lowe (12-12) is 10-0 in as many starts against Pittsburgh, the best such record by any major league pitcher. He cruised through six innings before being lifted in his first start since Aug. 29. He skipped a start due to a sore right elbow that may require offseason surgery to remove bone chips.

The right-hander gave up eight hits that Pittsburgh didn’t do much with in being denied its third consecutive victory, which would have matched its season high.