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Pirates resume set with Braves

Jul 26, 2011 - 2:37 PM (Sports Network) - The Pirates haven't been letting too many people down this season, but their offense knows they owe Jeff Karstens one.

The Pittsburgh hurler will look to cash in on that debt tonight as his club tries to secure a third straight victory in the second of four straight meetings with the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field.

While he sits among the National League leaders in earned run average, Karstens had a personal four-start winning streak end last time out to little fault of his own. The right-hander limited the Reds to three runs over seven innings on Wednesday, but two of those were unearned as Pittsburgh committed a pair of errors. It still could have been enough for a victory, but the club's offense also fell silent in a 3-1 loss.

Karstens lost for the first time since May 29, falling to 8-5 on the season despite his ERA dropping to 2.28, second-best in the league. He will make his 22nd appearance of the season and 18th start.

One of his relief outings came on May 25 versus the Braves and he picked up the losing decision in an extra-inning setback. The 28-year-old Karstens allowed two runs over a pair of innings, falling to 1-2 with a 4.35 ERA in four career relief appearances versus Atlanta.

Pitching has been the key to the Pirates climb atop the NL Central standings and that trend continued in last night's opener. Starter James McDonald struck out a career-high nine over 5 1/3 scoreless innings before Chris Resop, Daniel McCutchen, Jose Veras and Joel Hanrahan combined to limit the Braves to just a Chipper Jones solo homer over the final 3 2/3 frames in a 3-1 victory.

Hanrahan earned his 29th save of the season and helped the Pirates remain tied with the Cardinals for first place in the division. Both clubs moved a half- game ahead of the idle Brewers.

"It's really big to come in here and take the first one against a really good team," said McDonald. "To get a win right away is big for the team."

Andrew McCutchen drove in a run, scored once and drew a pair of walks, while Ronny Cedeno and Michael McKenry both ended with an RBI as the Pirates beat the Braves for just the fourth time in the past 12 meetings. It was also their first victory in Atlanta since June 11, 2009 after getting swept in a three- game set there last season.

Pittsburgh recalled third baseman Pedro Alvarez from Triple-A Indianapolis prior to the game and he went 1-for-3 with a run scored in his first MLB action since May 19. The Braves also got their starting third baseman back before the game in Jones, but he was unable to finish out the game.

Activated from the disabled list after being out with a torn meniscus in his right knee, Jones exited after his eighth-inning homer because of a strained right quad that has him day-to-day and questionable for this game.

Dan Uggla went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 16 straight games, but he is still hitting under .200 for the season.

Last night's loss kept the Braves six games back of the first-place Phillies in the NL East and left starter Tim Hudson impressed with the Pirates after he allowed three runs over seven innings to take the loss.

"They're a good club over there and they're not in first place by accident," said Hudson. "They made their hits count tonight and they got the big hits when they had the chances to score, and we didn't get any big hits."

Atlanta dropped its third straight game and fifth in seven contests and will hope that Tommy Hanson can get his second half on track tonight.

The All-Star snub has given up 11 runs over his past two starts, but has split a pair of decisions in that time. He picked up a victory at Colorado on Thursday despite allowing a season-high six runs on seven hits over six innings with seven strikeouts.

Hanson, who remains one of the league leaders in wins, felt he was unable to adjust to the conditions are Coors Field.

"It's not easy to pitch here," Hanson said on Atlanta's website. "It just seems my pitches did different things. It was almost like they did what they wanted. If it felt like breaking, it did. If it didn't, it just stayed straight. I'm glad to get out of this one and glad we won."

The 24-year-old righty is 11-5 this season, but his ERA has lifted from 2.44 to 3.06 over his past two outings. He will face the Pirates for the first time this season and has seen them only one other time in his career, allowing three runs -- two earned -- over six innings of a loss on Sept. 6.