(Tuesday, August 1st)

Final Score: Atlanta 4, Pittsburgh 2

Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Adam LaRoche hit a pair of solo home runs and John Smoltz pitched seven strong innings to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of a three-game series at PNC Park.

Smoltz (9-5) allowed one run on six hits with no walks and six strikeouts to pick up his fifth win in his last six starts for the Braves, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Marcus Giles went 3-for-5, all doubles, with an RBI and a run scored.

The Braves played the game without third baseman Chipper Jones, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Monday with a strained left oblique.

The Braves were relatively quiet before Monday's trade deadline. The only deal they were involved in sent reliever Jorge Sosa to St. Louis for a minor league pitcher. On Friday, Atlanta traded infielder Wilson Betemit to the Dodgers in exchange for right-hander Danys Baez and infielder Willy Aybar.

Jeromy Burnitz and Ronny Paulino each had an RBI and Ian Snell (9-7) was charged with the loss for giving up four runs on nine hits with a walk in seven innings for the Pirates, who had a season-high five-game winning streak snapped. Snell tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts.

The Pirates were active before the trade deadline and made four deals. First they shipped Sean Casey to Detroit for a minor league pitcher. They then sent pitchers Oliver Perez and Roberto Hernandez to the Mets in exchange for outfielder Xavier Nady. They also sent first baseman/outfielder Craig Wilson to the Yankees for starting pitcher Shawn Chacon and dealt right-hander Kip Wells to the Texas Rangers for a minor league hurler.

LaRoche led off the third inning with a solo homer to give the Braves a 1-0 lead.

A single by Brian McCann plated Giles in the fourth to give Atlanta a 2-0 advantage.

Pittsburgh got a run back in the bottom of the fourth when Burnitz roped a two-out double off the right-field wall to plate Freddy Sanchez.

Atlanta, though, got the run back in the fifth after Giles doubled to score Scott Thorman and got another run in the sixth when LaRoche smacked his second homer of the game, a shot over the right-center wall to take a 4-1 lead.

After the fourth inning Smoltz only allowed three baserunners over the next three innings, none of which went further than second, and Baez pitched a scoreless eighth.

Bob Wickman came on the mound in the ninth to close out the game, but got into some trouble. With runners on first and third and two outs, Paulino hit a ground ball down the third base line that hit the third base bag and popped into the air. Aybar caught the ball but was unable to make a play and Jason Bay scored to make it a 4-2 game. Wickman, though, got Jose Hernandez to strike out swinging to pick up his third save as a member of the Braves.

Game Notes

This was Snell's first start ever against Atlanta...Pittsburgh pitcher Josh Sharpless made his debut in the majors in the game and pitched a scoreless eighth inning...It was the sixth multi-homer game for LaRoche in his career and fourth this season. He has 22 home runs on the year...Smoltz is 14-11 with six saves in 37 career games (30 starts) against the Pirates...Atlanta holds a 16-7 edge in the series with Pittsburgh since the start of the 2003 campaign.