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Duke, Pirates go for sweep of Braves

Apr 18, 2009 - 9:51 PM By Matt Becker Stats Senior Writer

Atlanta (5-6) at Pittsburgh (6-5), 1:35 p.m. EDT

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The season is less than two weeks old, but the Pittsburgh Pirates have already seen a dramatic improvement from last year's awful pitching.

Zach Duke looks to turn in another dominating performance and help the Pirates sweep a three-game series from the slumping Atlanta Braves for the first time in 15 years Sunday at PNC Park.

Last season, Pittsburgh (6-5) finished with the NL's third-worst record of 67-95 largely because of a pitching staff that had a league-high 5.08 ERA.

Although the core of Duke, Paul Maholm and Ian Snell remain from last year's starting rotation, the Pirates have a NL-best 2.63 ERA in 2009 under first-year pitching coach Joe Kerrigan.

"I knew we would be better," manager John Russell said. "Last year, we were not good at all. With Joe, there's now a sense of urgency to go out there and compete."

Atlanta (5-6) has quickly found out just how good this year's staff is.

After Maholm allowed four hits in seven innings of Friday's 3-0 victory over the Braves, Snell gave up four hits in seven innings of Saturday's 10-0 win.

With Snell shutting down Atlanta's bats, Craig Monroe hit a pair of three-run homers for Pittsburgh, which has not swept three games from the Braves since April 29-May 1, 1994.

The Pirates, who have not posted three consecutive shutouts since Oct. 2-3, 1976, have three in their past five games.

Duke (2-0, 0.59 ERA) pitched the first shutout in that stretch and he'll go for his third win in as many starts Sunday.

Duke was a big part of Pittsburgh's pitching woes last season, going 5-14 with a 4.82 ERA, but he's been sharp early in 2009.

The left-hander allowed three runs - one earned - in 6 1-3 innings of a 7-4 win over St. Louis on April 8, then threw a four-hitter in a 7-0 victory over Houston on Monday. Duke, who didn't win his second game until his eighth start in 2008, struck out five and walked two against the Astros.

"I can throw my pitches when I want to right now," Duke said. "I'm healthy and I'm right where I want to be."

Despite his struggles last season, Duke was solid against Atlanta. He went 1-0 with a 1.54 ERA in two starts and is 2-2 with a 2.76 ERA in five career starts versus the Braves.

Atlanta won five of its first six games but has since dropped five in a row. The Braves had a .300 batting average and 38 runs in those first six contests but are hitting .190 with seven runs during the slide.

Atlanta's offensive struggles have come with third baseman Chipper Jones and shortstop Yunel Escobar out. Jones missed his fourth consecutive game Saturday with a bruised left thumb and Escobar sat out his second straight with a strained abdominal muscle.

Braves manager Bobby Cox said both players could return Sunday.

"We haven't had our whole team in the lineup yet," Cox said. "It would be great to get everybody back."

Last season, Jones went 6-for-6 with a double against Duke, who will be opposed by Javier Vazquez (0-1, 4.50).

The right-hander allowed three runs and struck out 12 - his most since 2007 - in six innings Tuesday, but lost 5-1 to Florida.

Vazquez has yielded 10 runs in 12 innings over his last two starts against the Pirates. The right-hander is 0-1 with a 7.56 ERA in three career starts at PNC Park.