PITTSBURGH — Adam LaRoche can't explain why he's gone from being the majors' worst hitter in April to one of its best. All he wants to do is keep hitting like he's not supposed to during a month he and the Pittsburgh Pirates once dreaded.

LaRoche had four hits and little brother Andy drove in a pair of runs, leading the surprising Pirates to a 7-4 victory over Florida yesterday and a three-game sweep of the team with baseball's best record.

Florida began the series with an 11-1 record, a seven-game winning streak and a 6-0 road record, only to be outscored 18-6 while being swept in a three-game series by Pittsburgh for the first time since 2005.

"They played better the whole series, they ran the bases and got key hits when they had to and they pitched real good," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said.

The Pirates didn't get their usual standout starting pitching — their starters came in with a 2.79 ERA — so they relied instead on the brothers LaRoche and balance throughout the lineup to win their fifth in six games. Seven players had at least one hit each, including starting pitcher Paul Maholm, as the Pirates scored in five different innings.

Pittsburgh is 9-6, its best start since opening 10-5 in 2002. The Pirates were 7-8 a year ago, 6-9 in 2007 and 4-11 in 2005 and 2006.

Adam LaRoche went 4-for-5 with three doubles to raise his average to .304, which is .125 higher than his .179 career average in April coming into this season. According to Stats LLC, the only NL hitters since 1900 with worse career averages in April were Dal Maxvill (.174) and Clete Boyer (.175).

"That's behind me now," said LaRoche, who appears to be staying on breaking pitches much better than he once did. "If I could answer that, I would have faced it four years ago. I have no idea what it is, but I'm not complaining."

Adam LaRoche doubled in a run during the first against Ricky Nolasco (1-2), then singled ahead of Andy LaRoche's sacrifice fly during a two-run third that made it 3-0. The LaRoche brothers also doubled in the fifth to produce another run.

After the Marlins tied it at 4 with a two-run sixth against Maholm (3-0), the Pirates immediately came back to take a 6-4 lead.

DIAMONDBACKS 2, ROCKIES 0:

Dan Haren (1-3) lowered his ERA to 1.38, allowing six hits with nine strikeouts over seven innings, Ryan Roberts' pinch-hit, RBI single broke a scoreless tie, and Conor Jackson walked with the bases loaded to cap a two-run bottom of the seventh as Arizona defeated Colorado.

GIANTS 1, PADRES 0:

Bengie Molina's pinch-hit ground-rule double with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning drove in Andres Torres from second base to give San Francisco a win over San Diego before a crowd of 26,593, the smallest since the Giants moved into AT&T Park in 2000.

BREWERS 3, PHILLIES 1:

Braden Looper (2-0) scattered five hits over six scoreless innings, Mike Cameron hit a two-run double and J.J. Hardy blasted a solo homer as visiting Milwaukee snapped a six-game, regular-season losing streak against Philadelphia.

BRAVES 1, NATIONALS 0:

Kelly Johnson drew a bases-loaded walk from Mike Hinckley in the top of the ninth inning, and Rafael Soriano earned his second save with a perfect bottom half of the inning as Atlanta beat Washington for its second win in seven games.

CARDINALS 5, METS 2:

Joel Pineiro (3-0) carried a six-hitter into the ninth inning, getting pulled after David Wright's leadoff double, Albert Pujols had two hits and two RBIs, and Joe Thurston and Skip Schumaker had an RBI apiece as host St. Louis won the first two of a three-game series with New York.

ASTROS 6, DODGERS 5:

Lance Berkman tied it with a solo home run and Ivan Rodriguez capped the two-run bottom of the eighth inning with a single to center to score Hunter Pence from third base as Houston rallied past Los Angeles.

REDS 3, CUBS 0:

Johnny Cueto (1-1) gave up four hits in seven innings, Joey Votto had an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning for a 2-0 lead, and Jay Bruce hit a solo homer in the ninth to help Cincinnati end Chicago's three-game winning streak.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

YANKEES 9, ATHLETICS 7:

Melky Cabrera hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the 14th inning as New York overcame another shaky outing from CC Sabathia to beat Oakland, which got a three-run homer from Baldwin High alum and Maui native Kurt Suzuki for a 3-0 lead in the second.

RED SOX SWEEP TWINS:

Brad Penny (2-0) allowed three runs on six hits in six innings, Jeff Bailey hit a three-run homer and David Ortiz had a two-run double as host Boston extended its winning streak to seven with a 7-3 victory in the nightcap. In the opener, Tim Wakefield (2-1) tossed a five-hitter for a 10-1 victory in a game called after seven innings because of rain.

ROYALS 2, INDIANS 0:

Brian Bannister (1-0), recalled from Triple-A Omaha on Tuesday, allowed four hits in six innings, Jamey Wright and Joakim Soria completed the five-hitter, and David DeJesus had a sacrifice fly and Willie Bloomquist an RBI single to lift visiting Kansas City over Cleveland.

WHITE SOX 8, ORIOLES 2:

Jim Thome hit his 545th career homer, a solo shot for a 4-0 lead in the third inning, and left-hander John Danks (2-0) allowed one run, four hits and no walks in seven innings to lead visiting Chicago past Baltimore.

BLUE JAYS 8, RANGERS 7:

Kevin Millar singled home Vernon Wells from second base with one out in the bottom of the 11th inning off right-hander Darren O'Day, who was claimed on waivers from the New York Mets earlier, as Toronto beat Texas.

RAYS 9, MARINERS 3:

Carl Crawford had four hits, Evan Longoria had three, and 6-foot-9 rookie Jeff Niemann (1-2) allowed three runs and three hits over 5 1/3 innings to lead visiting Tampa Bay over Seattle.

TIGERS 12, ANGELS 10:

Curtis Granderson and Brandon Inge hit homers and visiting Detroit used a five-run seventh inning — aided by reliever Scot Shields (0-2), who threw 18 pitches in the seventh without retiring a batter and walked Gerald Laird with the bases to break a 7-all tie.