Jose Tabata tripled in two runs and Paul Maholm pitched seven strong innings as the Pittsburgh Pirates took advantage of the stumbling St. Louis Cardinals 5-2 on Tuesday.

Pedro Alvarez, Ryan Doumit and John Bowker each added an RBI and Ronny Cedeno scored a run for the Pirates, who have won four games in a row.

Pittsburgh got right to work in the bottom of the first, pushing across three runs against Jake Westbrook (2-4). Tabata started the rally with a one-out single before Westbrook lost control and walked the next two batters to load the bases. Alvarez came up next and slapped in the first run with a single to right and Doumit followed in kind before Bowker reached on Brendan Ryan’s error, forcing in the third run.

Tabata effectively ended Westbrook’s night with his two-run triple in the fourth.

Maholm (8-15) scattered seven hits and two runs while striking out four and not issuing a walk as he snapped an eight-start winless streak.

Joel Hanrahan pitched a scoreless eighth and Evan Meek worked the ninth for his fourth save.