• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Pirates counting on Maholm to pitch club past Dodgers

May 11, 2011 - 2:36 PM (Sports Network) - Though Pittsburgh's stay above the .500 line was a short one, it can jump right back above the even mark if Paul Maholm can find a way to beat the Dodgers for the first time in his career.

The tough-luck Pirates hurler also seeks his second victory of the season tonight in the third contest of four straight versus the Los Angeles Dodgers at PNC Park.

A victory in Monday's opener gave the Pirates a record of 18-17, putting them above .500 for the first time since they were 5-4 on April 9. Of course, Pittsburgh hasn't had a winning season in a major league record 18 consecutive years.

However, Pittsburgh's season-best three-game winning streak was halted in a big way last night thanks to a 10-3 victory by the Dodgers, who won for only the third time in 10 games themselves.

Usual suspects Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier provided the spark, with Kemp following an RBI hit by Ethier in the sixth inning with a three-run homer before Los Angeles put the game away with a five-run eighth inning.

"Through five [innings] there wasn't a lot of action, but [Ethier's] hit gets us a run and [Kemp's] hit gets us a quick three. That was nice," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.

Kemp's homer was his seventh of the season, while Ethier had two hits to give him at least one in all but two of his 36 games played this season. Ethier had a 30-game hitting streak stopped this past weekend.

Maholm, who is 0-4 with a 5.65 earned run average in seven career starts versus the Dodgers, will try to slow the LA duo down and has had moderate success in doing so. Kemp is 3-for-10 against Maholm with a pair of RBI, while Ethier is 2-for-6 with an RBI.

The left-handed Pirates hurler is 1-4 in seven starts this season despite a 3.68 ERA, while the Pirates are just 1-6 in that span, having scored a total of 11 runs when Maholm is on the mound.

Maholm appeared to be headed for his second win on Friday versus Houston, giving up a run on five hits and three walks over seven innings, but ended up with a no-decision after the bullpen faltered in a 3-2 loss. It did mark the fourth time in the 28-year-old's last five starts he has pitched seven innings.

"It's an excellent outing," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle told his team's website. "He's been the guy who your team struggles to score runs for. I've seen it everywhere I've gone, just about every year I've been in the game. He seems to be the guy, right now."

Andrew McCutchen would love to continue his hot streak and get his hurler some runs tonight. McCutchen had three hits in last night's loss, including a pair of solo homers, and is hitting .326 (14-for-43) over his last 11 games with four homers and nine RBI.

"I've been expecting [McCutchen] to get on a tear sometime soon. Tonight's evidence that it may have already started," Hurdle said.

Maholm will also hope to have better luck tonight than Kevin Correia, who was tagged for five runs -- four earned -- in 6 1/3 innings to take the loss.

McCutchen is 3-for-8 in lifetime versus tonight's starter for the Dodgers, right-hander Hiroki Kuroda, who is an even 3-3 on the season with a 3.69 ERA through seven starts.

Kuroda was last in action on Friday versus the Mets and suffered a loss, getting charged with five runs on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings. The 36-year- old had allowed just two earned runs in each of his previous three starts.

Kuroda has solid career numbers against Pittsburgh, going 3-1 with a 2.32 ERA in five starts.

Though Los Angeles has won four of its past five versus the Pirates, it has still dropped six of its last nine at Pittsburgh.