PITTSBURGH — Paul Maholm wasn't bothered by the rain, the field conditions or the ongoing losing. The Cincinnati Reds might not be able to say the same thing.

Maholm took a shutout into the eighth inning and Jeromy Burnitz came out of an extended slump to drive in four runs, leading the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 9-3 victory over the still-slumping Cincinnati Reds Tuesday night.

The Reds lost their fourth in a row and eighth in 12 games, a slide that dropped them out of first place in the NL Central. They have scored no more than one run in seven of those 12 games, prompting manager Jerry Narron to call a postgame meeting.

"I believe in these guys, and I know we've gotten off to a better start than most people expected, and a lot of people expect us to fall off the face of the earth," Narron said. "But these guys are going to keep grinding and battling and, at some point, we're going to come out of this thing and run together some wins."

Maholm (2-4) gave up five hits in 7Z\c innings. He gave up singles to Felipe Lopez and Edwin Encarnacion to start the game, but got out of that early jam by picking Lopez off second base and striking out Ken Griffey Jr. and Austin Kearns. Maholm went on to strike out eight.

"I could pretty much throw any pitch I wanted to throw, so they couldn't sit back and wait for a pitch," Maholm said.

The Reds didn't score until former Pirates catcher David Ross hit his second career pinch-hit homer, a two-run drive in the eighth that brought on reliever Salomon Torres. Lopez followed with a solo homer off Torres.

Burnitz has been booed repeatedly during recent home games as his average dropped to .185 during a 3-for-36 slump. But he had an RBI double in a four-run third inning against Harang (5-2), then added a three-run double to chase Harang in the fifth.

"It always feels a little better when you haven't been going up there and doing much damage," Burnitz said. "It wasn't so much having patience but having experience. I've done it before."

Burnitz's four RBI were only one fewer than the five he had in his previous 13 games combined.