PITTSBURGH (AP) – Mark Redman ended a six-week winless streak by allowing six hits over eight innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates won their first series since the All-Star break, beating the Colorado Rockies 3-0 Sunday.

The Pirates turned Tike Redman’s bloop double to short left field that should have been caught and Jack Wilson’s groundball triple down the first-base line into a gift two-run second inning against Shawn Chacon (1-7). Jose Castillo homered to start the fourth, his eighth.

Pittsburgh had lost nine of 12 games since last winning a series by taking two of three from the Mets from July 8-10.

Jose Mesa got his 24th save in 27 appearances, pitching the ninth inning in his third consecutive appearance. He gave up Todd Helton’s game-winning two-run homer in the 10th inning of a 5-3 loss Friday, then got the final four outs of a 5-3 victory Saturday night.

The Rockies dropped three of four in losing their eighth consecutive series to the Pirates, a streak that began in 2002. They also have lost all seven series in Pittsburgh since PNC Park opened in 2001.

The Rockies lost for the 40th time in 50 road games – the worst road record for any major league team to this point since the 1979 Oakland Athletics also were 10-40.

Maybe that was a good omen for Redman, who started the season with a long string of successful starts before going 0-6 with a 7.30 ERA in his last seven starts. The left-hander, reportedly being shopped by the Pirates as the deadline for trading without waivers nears, hadn’t won since beating Tampa Bay 7-2 on June 10. During the slump, his ERA rose from 2.80 to 4.24.

Redman was in control from the start against the Rockies, who managed only three hits in a 5-3 loss Saturday to the Pirates’ Dave Williams and four relievers, and 10 hits combined in the final two games of the series.

Every Rockies hit was a single, and they advanced a runner as far as third only once, putting runners on first and third with one out in the fourth before Matt Holliday grounded into a double play.

Despite Luis Gonzalez’s three-hit day, Redman looked more like the pitcher who gave up only 29 earned runs in his first 14 starts, striking out five and walking one. He also pitched out of trouble in the eighth, getting Dustan Mohr to line out to third with runners on first and second.

Chacon’s losing streak is even longer than Redman’s was. The right-hander lost his seventh in a row and is now winless in nine starts since April 23. He is 0-5 in his career against the Pirates.

Notes: INF Anderson Machado, claimed off waivers from Cincinnati last week, made his first Rockies start at SS and went 0-for-2. He is the 16th rookie to play for the team this season. … Pirates 1B Brad Eldred, making his third successive start since being called up from Triple-A, made an excellent diving catch of Machado’s short foul popup in the eighth. … The Rockies are 7-15 in PNC Park. … Colorado went 3-7 on a 10-game road trip to Cincinnati, Washington and Pittsburgh, despite winning two of three from the Nationals. … Pittsburgh is 5-2 against Colorado this season.

AP-ES-07-24-05 1544EDT