PITTSBURGH — Pirates pitcher Charlie Morton did his best to stay busy after a sudden downpour sent players scampering off the field in the first inning Monday night against Cincinnati.

The right-hander spent 90 long minutes thinking about the bases-loaded, two-out jam that awaited him when he walked back on the field. He stretched. He played catch. Then he breathed.

The one thing he didn’t do was panic. Those days are long gone for the first-place — yes, first-place — Pirates.

Morton escaped thanks to a spectacular play by shortstop Chase d’Arnaud then rolled to his first victory in over a month as the Pirates beat the Reds 2-0 to move into first-place in the NL Central.

“I could kind of reflect on what I was doing out on the mound and kick myself a little bit to get it going,” Morton said after improving to 8-5.

A little bit is all it takes for the Pirates, who moved a half-game ahead of Milwaukee after the Brewers lost 3-0 at Arizona.

Yes, it’s just July 18. Still, for a team playing against the backdrop of 18 consecutive losing seasons, peering down from atop the standings for at least 24 hours is hardly a bad thing.

“It was a well-pitched gutsy effort by (Morton),” said Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle.

Morton gave up three hits, struck out three and walked two before the bullpen took over. Tony Watson pitched 2 2-3 innings of nearly flawless baseball, Daniel McCutchen got out of a two-on, two-out spot in the eighth and Joel Hanrahan worked the ninth for his 27th save as Pittsburgh moved to six games over .500 (50-44) for the first time this season.

Not bad for a team that didn’t pick up its 50th win a year ago until mid-September.

Those days appear to be long gone for the Pirates, who haven’t been in first place this late in the season since 1997.

Dontrelle Willis (0-1) pitched well in his second start since being called up from Triple-A Louisville. The former All-Star surrendered two runs in 4 2-3 innings, striking out five and walking just one.

“I felt good mechanically, first time in a long time mechanically,” said Willis, who threw 51 of his 69 pitches for strikes. “But Morton, he pitched a great game. It was one of those games where a base hit here could have decided it, and it was just one of those things where we were on the other side of the fence today.”

Willis’ only hiccup came in the fourth as the Pirates scratched across a pair of runs in what is becoming very Pirate-like fashion.

d’Arnaud and Neil Walker led off the fourth with back-to-back singles. Andrew McCutchen brought d’Arnaud home on an RBI groundout and Walker soon followed on Matt Diaz’s sacrifice fly.

That was more than enough for Morton and Pittsburgh’s steady bullpen.

Morton has struggled over the last month, his early season success waning. He entered the game with a 6.82 ERA since June 1 but showed flashes of his April and May form on a muggy night at increasingly electric PNC Park.

“This is the best it’s felt in a month,” Morton said.

A well-timed downpour and some spectacular defense certainly helped.

The start of the game was delayed 55 minutes by rain, but the sky briefly cleared, giving Morton just enough time to get in trouble.

He hit Drew Stubbs to lead off the game and Zack Cozart followed with a sharp single to put runners on the corners. An intentional walk to Jay Bruce with two outs loaded the bases.

Morton jumped ahead of Miguel Cairo 1-2 when a massive thunderclap shook the stadium and lit up the downtown Pittsburgh skyline. Umpire Tony Randazzo ordered the teams off the field and gave Morton a much-needed breather.

Cairo worked the count to 2-2 when play resumed but was robbed by d’Arnaud, who dived into the hole to field a grounder then flipped the ball with his glove to Walker at second base to force out Bruce.

“I’ve only done that play two other times in my life,” d’Arnaud said.

Neither mattered as much as Monday night’s gem.

“I wanted to make contact with the ball and I put the ball in play and the shortstop made a great play and they got out of the inning,” said Cairo, who stranded five runners on base.

The loss blunted some of Cincinnati’s momentum. The defending NL Central champions took a pair of games from St. Louis over the weekend but again struggled to get a hit in a key situation.

The Reds left nine runners on base while being shut out for the fourth time this year as Pittsburgh improved to 6-1 against Cincinnati in 2011.

“The Pirates have had our number all year, man,” said Cincinnati second baseman Brandon Phillips. “I don’t know what it is, but I’ll tell you one thing: They’re a good team, they’re for real.”

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Although rookie Dillon Gee may not be perfect his record still is.

Gee remained undefeated, Jose Reyes homered among his three hits and the New York Mets won for the fifth time in six games, 8-1 over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.

Gee became the first Mets’ rookie starter to improve to 7-0, and New York has won all nine of his starts. He allowed one run and eight hits in a career-high eight innings with no walks and five strikeouts.

“He really pitched great again,” Mets manager Terry Collins said before deadpanning, “but we finally figured out a flaw: He can’t bunt. We’ve got to work on that.”

Gee bunting into a force play during New York’s five-run fourth inning aside, he won his fifth straight outing and is the majors’ first rookie starter to open 7-0 since 2006, when Jered Weaver started 9-0 for the Los Angeles Angels.

Gee has allowed one earned run or less in three of his past five starts and has allowed only one run over his past two outings combined.

“I can’t say enough good things about the job he’s done on that mound, controlling his emotions, keeping himself in the game and just making pitches,” Collins said. “He’s been really amazing to watch.”

Gee also beat the Pirates on May 30 in New York.

“I was hoping we would adjust better this time,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. “He’s 7-0 now. He got us twice. He’s in a good place right now. You’re going to have to beat him by stretching at-bats out and we weren’t able to do that.”

Reyes and Josh Thole went 3 for 5, and Angel Pagan had two hits and scored twice for New York.

The Pirates’ Charlie Morton had his worst start of the season — though he was the victim of some infield hits, shoddy defense and bad bounces. Morton (6-3) lasted a season-low four-plus innings, allowing seven runs (six earned) and nine hits.

“Charlie didn’t throw ball that bad,” Pirates second baseman Neil Walker said. “We made a couple of errors to put some runners in scoring position and that made it tougher on him. You just have to mark it down as a bad day for us.”

Pittsburgh has lost two straight since reaching .500 in June for the first time since 2005.

Six of the first seven Mets to come to bat in the fourth had hits, including RBI singles by Lucas Duda and Thole and a two-run single by Justin Turner.

Recalled from the minors on Friday, Duda added a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Reyes, who made his major league debut exactly eight years ago as a 19-year-old, had a 12-game hitting streak snapped on Thursday. He singled twice and hit his second homer, leading off the sixth with a line drive over the 21-foot wall in right.

“I was a little concerned about him (when the streak ended Thursday),” Collins joked. “I told him today I was taking a chance putting him back in there.”

The Mets scored an unearned run in the first inning after loading the bases without a hit. Pagan’s groundout scored Turner.

Pittsburgh began the bottom of the inning with three consecutive singles. Andrew McCutchen drove in Jose Tabata, but from that point through the seventh, Gee faced only one over the minimum.

It was the second consecutive game in which the Pirates did not have an extra-base hit.

That continued a trend by Gee, who has allowed nine extra-base hits in his nine starts — and he still hasn’t shown his best stuff, he said.

“There’s definitely still a lot of work to be done, I feel like,” Gee said.

“I don’t want to look into (the streak) too much,” he added. “I definitely feel like I’m gaining more confidence every time out. But it’s hard work here, and I have to keep working to maintain where I’m at and gain a little better, too.”

Notes: The teams opened their second four-game series against each other over the past 12 days. … Pirates SS Ronny Cedeno’s error in the first inning snapped a 44-game errorless streak. … Mets OF Jason Bay was given a second consecutive day off as he works to break an 0-for-23 slump. Bay, PNC Park’s all-time leader in home runs and RBIs, played for the Pirates from 2003-08. He has yet to play against his former team, but Collins said he will be in the lineup on Saturday.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Charlie Morton pitched seven solid innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates sent the Philadelphia Phillies to their fourth consecutive loss, 6-3, tonight.

Andrew McCutchen and Lyle Overbay each had three hits and Brandon Wood homered for Pittsburgh (28-29), which has won four of five and could complete a sweep of first-place Philadelphia on Sunday to reach .500.

Morton was 2-12 with a 7.57 earned run average last season as the Pirates lost 105 games. But he has won four of his past five decisions to improve to 6-2. His ERA stands at 2.52 — fourth in the National League — after allowing a total of six earned runs over his past five starts.

Morton was charged with two runs on six hits and two walks with five strikeouts tonight, his trademark sinker inducing 11 groundball outs to only two outfield putouts.

PITTSBURGH – Charlie Morton pitched seven solid innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates sent the Philadelphia Phillies to their fourth consecutive loss, 6-3 Saturday night.

Andrew McCutchen and Lyle Overbay each had three hits and Brandon Wood homered for Pittsburgh (28-29), which has won four of five and could complete a sweep of first-place Philadelphia on Sunday to reach .500.

Morton was 2-12 with a 7.57 ERA last season as the Pirates lost 105 games. But he has won four of his past five decisions to improve to 6-2. His ERA stands at 2.52 — fourth in the NL — after allowing a total of six earned runs over his past five starts.

Morton was charged with two runs on six hits and two walks with five strikeouts Saturday, his trademark sinker inducing 11 groundball outs to only two outfield putouts.

Placido Polanco hit a two-out single with the bases loaded in the ninth, but Chase Utley flied out to end the game.

The Pirates, 15th in the NL in home attendance, drew the largest crowd in 11-year-old PNC Park’s history, 39,441, helped by plenty of Philly fans.

Jimmy Rollins fouled a ball off his right knee during the game’s first at bat and was taken out of the game by the bottom of the third with a bruised right knee.

With Joe Blanton on the disabled list and Vance Worley in the minors, Kendrick (3-4) made his third start of the season for Philadelphia and first since May 19.

He was charged with four runs on eight hits with no walks or strikeouts in five innings.

Notes: Morton entered the game leading the majors with a 1.91 groundball-to-flyball out ratio. … Philadelphia has scored seven runs during its four-game losing streak. … The Pirates have won six of seven at home against the Phillies and are 22-12 against them at PNC Park.

PITTSBURGH – Jair Jurrjens pitched six-hit ball into the eighth inning to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 2-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.

Jurrjens (6-1) struck out four and walked one in 7 2-3 innings while dropping his ERA to 1.56. Craig Kimbrel worked a perfect ninth for his 13th save.

Alex Gonzalez had three hits and scored a run for the Braves, who scratched out just enough offense to end Pittsburgh starter Charlie Morton’s three-game winning streak.

Morton (5-2) continued his strong start, giving up seven hits while striking out four and walking three in seven-plus innings.

Yet he couldn’t quite match Jurrjens, whose stuff has been electric this spring. The 25-year-old right-hander handcuffed the Pirates all night, needing just 97 pitches — 71 strikes — to send the Pirates to their second straight shutout loss.

The Braves came to town on the last stop of a miserable road trip in which they dropped four out of five and put starting outfielders Jason Heyward and Nate McLouth on the disabled list with injuries.

Jurrjens made sure none of it mattered against a Pirates offense that has suddenly stopped scoring runs.

Pittsburgh appeared to have found a groove last week, putting together a season-high four-game winning streak that pulled it within a game of .500. The Pirates scored 26 runs during the span but now haven’t scored in 19 innings.

Jurrjens didn’t give them much of a chance.

All five of Pittsburgh’s hits were singles and the Pirates were unable to capitalize on the few chances they had.

They managed to put two on with none out in the sixth thanks to an infield hit and a walk, but Neil Walker popped to shortstop and Lyle Overbay hit into an inning-ending double play.

Pittsburgh didn’t threaten again.

Atlanta pushed across a run in the second thanks to a rare flyball allowed by Morton. The former Brave has bounced back from an awful 2010 in which he went 2-12 with a 7.57 ERA.

He has become one of the National League’s biggest surprises behind a nasty sinker that has made opponents beat the ball into the ground with regularity.

He had won his last three decisions, including a shutout against Cincinnati last Thursday, and had a 2.62 ERA. More than 75 percent of his outs this season have come on groundballs.

The Braves didn’t get the ball in the air often, but they made it count when they did.

Gonzalez gave Atlanta a 1-0 lead in the second, coming home on a sacrifice fly by Brooks Conrad. They made it 2-0 an inning later thanks to an RBI double by Martin Prado.

Atlanta had a chance to break it open in the fifth but Morton benefited from an overzealous fan.

Prado beat out a double-play attempt to keep the inning alive and Chipper Jones followed with a deep drive to right-center. A fan reached over the fence and tried to grab the ball with a baseball cap but it squirted free and dropped onto the field. Umpires awarded Jones a ground-rule double, forcing Prado to stop at third. The call was upheld on replay and Morton got out of the jam when Brian McCann grounded out to first.

Not that it mattered. Two runs were all Jurrjens needed.

NOTES: Atlanta 2B Dan Uggla didn’t start for the first time this season but entered in the eighth as a defensive replacement. … Atlanta RHP Tim Hudson’s back is feeling much better. He will miss Wednesday’s scheduled start with back pain but is expected to be available when his next turn in the rotation comes on May 30. … Pittsburgh reliever Evan Meek pitched a scoreless ninth. Meek rejoined the club Sunday after spending time on the 15-day disabled list with tendinitis in his right shoulder.