Jeff Karstens, who had lost six consecutive decisions dating to last season, pitched six solid innings -- one run, three hits -- for a victory.

The bullpen carried it from there, with Matt Capps recording his fourth save.

And the Pirates , now 8-6, moved two games above .500 for the first time under manager John Russell and the first time under anyone since sweeping three in Houston to open the 2007 season.

"I don't know how many people outside this clubhouse believe, but I can tell you that the 25 in here do," Karstens said. "Look at what we're doing. All we do is go out just about every night and play clean Baseball."

All this against a Florida team that came to Pittsburgh 11-1 -- the best record in Major League Baseball -- but now will be trying to avoid a three-game sweep this afternoon.

The Marlins' Anibal Sanchez had a 1.64 ERA through two starts, but the Pirates tagged him from the outset, building a 3-1 lead through three innings on six hits. Adam LaRoche's two-out single in the first and Jason Jaramillo's double off the Clemente Wall in the second brought the first two RBIs, and Freddy Sanchez led off the third with a home run, his second, by tomahawking a letter-high, one-strike sinker into the left-field bleachers.

His 3-for-4 night raised his average to .367, and it drew praise from the opponents.

"He's a batting champion, an All-Star," Florida manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He's a heck of a player. I don't think there are very many guys who could cover the ball down and away and, all of a sudden, that ball is up in his eyes, and he's got enough range to hit it out of the ballpark."

"I tip my hat to this guy," Anibal Sanchez said. "That ball ... I don't know how he made his swing. I don't know how he made contact with that pitch."

Karstens found some trouble early but settled to retire nine of his final 10 batters. He was sharper than his previous outing -- three runs in four innings -- but that was to be expected, as the previous outing came after a three-week layoff.

"I knew he was going to be better," Russell said. "He was more consistent, kept the ball down."

This despite not operating with much in his repertoire beyond his fastball and slider.

"There's still some stuff I've got to work on," Karstens said. "But I was able to get away with a few balls that went straight up and, hey, sometimes it's better to be lucky."

His previous victory was that flirtation with a perfect game, Aug. 6 in Phoenix.

The Marlins injected some suspense with Cameron Maybin's eighth-inning solo home run off Tyler Yates that cut the Pirates' lead to 3-2.

It got hairier, too: John Grabow relieved and, after one out, gave up a single to Emilio Bonifacio and a walk to Ronny Paulino. But he got Hanley Ramirez to pop up and, after falling behind, 3-0, struck out Ross Gload swinging over a biting changeup.

This after displaying visible frustration with several other pitches in the inning.

"It was cold and hard to get a grip," Grabow said. "You know what? It ended well. That's what matters."

It ended with Capps' scoreless ninth, thanks in large part to shortstop Jack Wilson robbing Dan Uggla of a leadoff single with a diving stab to his left.

That was one sliver of what has been a glaring difference between these two teams in fundamentals, especially in the field, in each of these two games.