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Pirates snap losing streak against Braves

Posted on: Tuesday, 2 August 2005, 00:04 CDT

TORONTO (Reuters) - Rookie Zach Duke pitched 8 1/3 solid innings as the Pittsburgh Pirates snapped a five-game losing streak with a 4-1 win over the Atlanta Braves Monday.

Duke (4-0) surrendered just one run on seven hits, striking out two and walking one before Jose Mesa came on in the ninth to get the final two outs to seal the win and his 26th save.

"It's been great," said Duke, who had not allowed a run in 26 innings entering the game. "I'm enjoying every minute, hopefully it will continue."

Duke received all the support he needed from Jose Castillo, who hit a RBI single in the fourth before he snapped a 1-1 tie in the sixth with a two-run homer to deep-right at Turner Field.

Pittsburgh's Chris Duffy then added an insurance run in the seventh with his first major league home run.

"It was pretty special," said Duffy. "To get it off a guy like (Tim) Hudson, who's a pretty well-known guy, makes it feel a little bit better.

"I'm definitely happy that it happened when we won, now I can enjoy it a little better."

In St. Louis, Lenny Harris had a pinch-hit three-run double in the sixth to help the Florida Marlins beat the Cardinals 6-5.

Mike Lowell had sparked the four-run sixth when he hit a sacrifice fly to score Miguel Cabrera before Harris hit a line-drive double to deep right to score Paul Lo Duca, Juan Encarnacion and Alex Gonzalez.

Ismael Valdez (1-0) earned his first win of the season despite surrendering four runs on eight hits in five innings. Todd Jones pitched a scoreless ninth for the 21st save.

Jason Marquis (9-9) took the loss after giving up six runs on nine hits over six innings.

Source: REUTERS

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