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SAN FRANCISCO -- His left oblique no longer a painful obstacle, Francisco Liriano is starting to look like the dominant pitcher he was for Pittsburgh in 2013. With the Pirates in the thick of the race in the NL Central, the timing couldnt be better. Liriano struck out a season-high 11 in seven innings to win consecutive starts for the first time this season and Pittsburgh beat the San Francisco Giants 3-1 on Tuesday night. "I was just trying to hit my spots, make some good pitches," said Liriano, who last won consecutive starts nearly a year ago. "My last start and tonight, everythings getting better pitching-wise and Im getting ahead with the fastball." Josh Harrison hit a leadoff home run in the first inning and Travis Snider added a two-run shot in the second for the Pirates, who moved within one game of first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central. A former minor league prospect for the Giants, Liriano (3-7) gave up a home run to Mike Morse but was otherwise stellar while leading the surging Pirates to their eighth win in 11 games. The left-hander allowed four hits, walked one and retired 18 of the final 21 hitters he faced. More importantly, Liriano threw first-pitch strikes to 19 of the 26 hitters he faced. Hes 2-0 with a 0.95 ERA over the last three starts. "I thought it was his best outing," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. "The fastball played so well, he was able to get them into a swing mode. This is a guy who was a huge part of the success we had last year. Thats why I felt it was important to get him up and running again." San Francisco lost its sixth straight, matching its longest skid of the season. Harrison hit a 3-2 pitch from Giants starter Tim Hudson off the facing off the brick wall in right field for his first career leadoff home run. Harrison is hitting .583 (7 for 12) with a double and three home runs over his past three games. Snider hit his seventh homer after Ike Davis reached on an infield single leading off the second. It was just enough to help the Pirates (57-49) move a season-high eight games over .500. Mark Melancon worked the ninth for his 20th save. Buster Posey had three of the Giants six hits, including a leadoff single in the ninth. Pablo Sandoval followed with a deep fly out to right before Melancon struck out Morse and pinch-hitter Travis Ishikawa. "Were sputtering with the offence," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. "We just cant string together a few hits. We have to find a way. Its tough to go through this." Hudson (8-8) allowed six hits over seven innings and took his sixth loss in the last eight starts. NUMBERS The Pirates have won 17 consecutive games when scoring first. ... The Giants have lost eight of their last nine series at AT&T Park. ... Posey hadnt had a multi-hit game at home since June 26. ... Hudson is 1-6 with a 4.32 ERA over his past eight starts. POWER OUTTAGE San Francisco has scored just five runs over its past five games and has had four extra-base hits during that span. TRAINERS ROOM Pirates: Outfielder Starling Marte ran the bases but has not yet been cleared to play after being placed on the 7-day concussion list. Marte is eligible to come off the DL on Wednesday but no move is expected. Giants: Right-hander Matt Cain plans to meet with specialist Dr. James Andrews this week to get a second opinion on his injured elbow. Bochy said the move is precautionary and that surgery has not yet been discussed. ON DECK Tim Lincecum (9-7) pitches the finale for the Giants on Wednesday. Charlie Morton (5-10) goes for the Pirates, who are seeking their first sweep at San Franciscos waterfront ballpark since 2007. Enrique Hernandez Jersey . Among the teams moves was trading one of the teams two third round picks, no. 83 overall, to the Chicago Blackhawks for Brandon Bollig, a six-foot-two, 223-pound left-winger who had seven goals, seven assists, and 92 penalty minutes in 82 games last season. Fernando Valenzuela Jersey . The cause of his death is as of yet undetermined, but police said foul play is not suspected. http://www.dodgersteamproshop.com/Dodgers-Andre-Ethier-Kids-Jersey/ .ca/CurlingSkins - with the Top 16 curlers earning a ticket to Banff, Alta. to compete in the TRAVELERS ALL-STAR CURLING SKINS GAME Presented by Pintys, running Jan. Los Angeles Dodgers Jerseys .J. -- Travis Zajac of the New Jersey Devils took a lot of grief considering his scored the first of his career-best three goals just 12 seconds into a crucial game against the Florida Panthers. Ross Stripling Jersey .Bacca took advantage of Cristian Alvarezs hesitation to head a lobbed pass over the goalkeeper and then used his feet to roll the ball into an empty net in the eighth minute. The Colombia strikers 10th goal pulled him level with Lionel Messi as the leagues third-leading scorers, far behind Cristiano Ronaldos runaway tally of 23 goals.SOCHI, Russia -- Team Canada isnt making any last-minute changes for its Olympic semifinal showdown against the United States. Save for Matt Duchene replacing the injured John Tavares, the lines and pairings are the same as they were in the quarter-final victory over Lativa and from Thursdays practice. Coach Mike Babcock was fired up not to have to make any changes. "Im pumped," Babcock said. "Were starting to look like a team and be like a team and youre organized like a team and you feel comfortable because youre not running around trying to do a million things. Its great." Duchene is back in after playing in two of Canadas first four games. Playing centre on the fourth line is part of the reason hes not worried about shaking some rust off. "Im back at my natural position, which is going to be nice," Duchene said. "And I played a lot of games on the big ice last year at centre so I know kind of what to expect in terms of that part of it as opposed to maybe playing on the wing." Duchene has represented Canada at three world championships, something that could give him an edge in recalling how things went wrong. "Helps a lot," he said. "Ive played a lot of games at Worrlds last few years.dddddddddddd Weve had some heartbreaking losses. You kind of have a little chip on your shoulder because you dont want to feel that again. Weve had some real heart-breakers there. Its time to win." Having been with this team for almost two weeks now, Babcock couldnt get a read on his team from a brief twirl at Bolshoy Ice Domes practice rink. But thats nothing new. "I cant get a feel in the morning skate in Detroit, either," he said. "Sometimes I think were the (76) Canadiens and the pucks going all over and then we dont do anything and sometimes I think our hands look like feet and we get out there and we play great. "Now we got to go out, we got a good plan, we got good people, now we got to go out and execute." PROJECTED LINEUP Forwards Chris Kunitz - Sidney Crosby - Patrice Bergeron Jamie Benn - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry Patrick Marleau - Jonathan Toews - Jeff Carter Patrick Sharp - Matt Duchene - Rick Nash / Martin St. Louis Defencemen Duncan Keith - Shea Weber Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Drew Doughty Jay Bouwmeester - Alex Pietrangelo Dan Hamhuis Goaltenders Carey Price - Roberto Luongo Scratches John Tavares (injured) - P.K. Subban - Mike Smith ' ' '