Omar Infante paced a 14-hit attack and Derek Lowe pitched six solid innings to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 9-3 pasting of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday to avoid a three-game sweep.

Despite a nagging elbow injury, Lowe (12-12) allowed one run and eight hits without issuing a walk to improve to 10-0 in as many starts all-time against the Pirates.

With the win, the Braves remained one-half game behind the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the NL East. The Philllies beat the Florida Marlins, 10-6, on Wednesday.

Atlanta had lost five of its six previous games and held a seven-game lead over Philadelphia on July 22.

Derrek Lee, Martin Prado and Alex Gonzalez drove in two runs apiece for Atlanta, which managed just one run and 11 hits combined in the first two games of the set.

Atlanta jumped on Pittsburgh starter Zach Duke (7-13) for three runs in the first inning on an RBI single by Lee and a two-run base hit by Gonzalez. Duke left after loading the bases in the second with none out and the Braves extended their lead to 8-0 after three innings.

Duke was charged with four runs and six hits in one-plus inning and reliever Daniel McCutchen was tagged for four runs and five hits in 1 1/3 innings.

Rookie Pedro Alvarez had three hits and Neil Walker extended his hitting to streak to 15 games with a first-inning single, the longest streak for a Pirates rookie since Rennie Stennett hit in 18 straight in 1971.