PITTSBURGH — Ian Snell came to the ballpark in a bad mood, only to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a much-needed dash of encouragement in what has been their worst April in 50 seasons.

Snell allowed an unearned run over seven innings to outduel Brett Myers and end Pittsburgh's seven-game losing streak. Jack Wilson drove in the go-ahead run in the Pirates' 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.

Craig Wilson and Jason Bay also drove in runs as the Pirates won for only the sixth time in 24 games during their worst start since 1957. They were coming off an 0-6 road trip to Houston and St. Louis.

The Pirates had lost 10 of 11 and 11 of 13 before the right-handed Snell finally pitched like the top prospect he is supposed to be, striking out seven and giving up five hits in his 11th career start and second victory. His only other win came when he pitched eight shutout innings to beat the Astros' Roger Clemens on Sept. 19.

Snell (1-2) began the game with a 7.71 ERA that was the highest among the starting pitchers on a Pirates staff with an NL-worst 5.71 ERA. But, unhappy that media commentators are singling out the last-place Pirates for ridicule, he didn't allow a batter to advance past second over the first six innings. The Phillies' only run came after third baseman Joe Randa's error in the seventh.

With the Pirates up 1-0 following Craig Wilson's RBI double in the sixth, Ryan Howard singled to start the seventh and moved to second when Randa fumbled Aaron Rowand's grounder. After David Bell bunted the runners up, Howard scored on Mike Lieberthal's ground out.

"I told myself then to keep my head in the game and keep throwing strikes," Snell said of the potentially big inning created by the error.

Snell was lifted for a pinch hitter after allowing no further scoring, and picked up the victory when the Pirates scored twice in the seventh against Myers (2-1). Chris Duffy doubled with two outs and scored on Jack Wilson's single through the hole at short, and Bay had a run-scoring double.