CINCINNATI -- Two scenes told the tale of a No. 1 that superseded a No. 100...

In the heart of the Pirates' clubhouse, minutes after downing the Cincinnati Reds, 3-1, last night at Great American Ball Park, several of rookie Daniel McCutchen's teammates doused him with beverages to commemorate his richly deserved first victory: He pitched 6 1/3 solid innings, with one run and four hits.

"Yeah, I got it pretty good," McCutchen recalled after showering.

Later, in a quieter moment by the players' laptop station, reliever Joel Hanrahan walked over to shake the hand of left fielder Lastings Milledge.

"Congratulations, man," Hanrahan said. "We were almost the only players in baseball history to play for two 100-loss teams in the same year."

Both burst into laughter.

Hanrahan and Milledge were with the 103-loss Washington Nationals before being traded together in June, but they will not be part of the Pittsburgh franchise's eighth 100-loss season because that was avoided with this victory: The Pirates' record is 62-97, with two games remaining.

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Today

• Game: Pirates vs. Cincinnati Reds, 7:10 p.m., Great American Ball Park.

• Radio: WPGB-FM (104.7).

• Pitching: LHP Zach Duke (11-15, 3.94) vs. RHP Johnny Cueto (10-11, 4.35).

• Key matchup: The Pirates' two fine rookies have fared well against Cueto, with Garrett Jones 4 for 5 with two doubles, Andrew McCutchen 3 for 6 with two home runs.

• Of note: Duke has pitched six or more innings in 27 of his 31 starts.

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"It's a big relief, honestly," Hanrahan said.

"None of us wanted that," third baseman Andy LaRoche said. "I know it's not something to be proud of, not getting to 100 losses, but we're still playing some pretty good baseball, and that's the most important thing."

The Pirates, indeed, are on a 6-2 roll, and their starting pitchers have stood out with a 2.76 ERA in that span.

McCutchen is fitting right in: After five starts in which he pitched well enough to win any or all, he put it all together last night by pinpointing his fastball, mixing in sharp breaking pitches and, above all, getting ahead in the count with 17 first-pitch strikes to his 25 batters, eight to his first nine batters.

He looked every bit the bulldog that management liked so much in the minors.

"What I liked was how he went right after guys," manager John Russell said. "He's not overpowering and needs to get ahead in the count, and that's what he did."

"I just wanted to stay aggressive and give my team a chance to win the game," McCutchen said.

It did not hurt, of course, that he no longer has to lug a zero in the win column into his offseason.

"That's really nice, but I also had a lot of help out there, including from the superstar over here."

He motioned to Milledge in the next stall, and that was a good place to start.

LaRoche's two-run single in the third opened the scoring, and Milledge's home run in the next inning put the Pirates up, 3-0: He rapped Justin Lehr's 1-2 curve beyond left field for his fourth of the season.

But his greater impact would come on defense in the sixth: Paul Janish led off with a double, and McCutchen was about to face Cincinnati's strong middle of the order. Joey Votto sliced a ball toward the left-field corner and Milledge, shading into left-center, made a breathtaking running catch, one good enough to draw a smattering of applause from the 16,288 partisans on hand.

"Great play," Russell called it. "The guy's continuing to make great strides."

"That really saved me," McCutchen said. "And that ball just kept tailing and tailing away from Lastings. It was outstanding."

Milledge shrugged it off.

"I got a good break and, from there, it was just a matter of tracking it down," he said.

McCutchen was chased with one out in the seventh, when Wladimir Balentien launched a monstrous home run that traveled to the top of the second deck above left field, just below the scoreboard. The naked eye would suggest it still was on an upward trajectory.

Official estimated distance: 467 feet.

"No way," McCutchen said. "I'd say 550. Think of where that ball would have landed."

Russell lifted McCutchen immediately, and Jesse Chavez and Hanrahan took that 3-1 lead into the ninth for closer Matt Capps.

Jay Bruce's one-out double brought the tying run to the plate, but Capps blew heat by a swinging Balentien for strike three and got Kevin Barker to ground out, registering his 26th save and, as he had promised earlier in the week, doing it his way: 14 pitches, 12 fastballs.

One other small positive on the evening: From a team standpoint, McCutchen now can be remembered for something other than being the losing pitcher when the Pirates clinched their record 17th consecutive losing season.

"No more records for me," he said.

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