Prado's three late RBIs lift Braves past Pirates

Jason Heyward doubled and hit his 10th homer for the Braves, who have won nine of 11 and take a four-game winning streak into Sunday's series finale.

"The way we're playing baseball lately, good things are going to happen," said Prado, whose two-out double in the eighth made the score 6-3. "This is what happens when you play as a team. We're getting good at-bats with runners in scoring position, taking pitches, working counts."

They stayed 1 1/2 games behind Philadelphia in the National League East and will play host to the Phillies in a three-game series that begins Monday. The Braves are 19-8 since ending a nine-game losing streak April 30.

"We're hitting on all cylinders," said catcher David Ross, who singled and scored the go-ahead run on Prado's sacrifice fly in the sixth. "These are the times when you don't want off days, and we don't have any coming up."

After a 24-minute rain delay before the ninth inning, closer Billy Wagner retired the side in order for his sixth save and 391st of his career, moving him past Dennis Eckersley for sole possession of fifth place on the all-time list.

Medlen (2-1) was charged with three runs, nine hits and two walks in six innings, including a two-run triple by pitcher Brian Burres in the fourth for a 3-1 Pirates lead.

"When I gave up the hit to the pitcher, it turned the momentum in their favor," Medlen said. "But our offense really performed. We're just playing really well."

Heyward homered and doubled in his first game since taking the National League lead in on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS), a statistic viewed by many baseball insiders as more significant than batting average.

Prado, the National League hits leader, put the Braves ahead with a sac fly in the sixth, then put the Pirates away with his double in the eighth.

"I kept telling Med, we're going to score some runs off these guys," Ross said. "Those last two RBIs were huge, and so was the double by Troy. Jason putting us on the board first with the homer in the first inning, that's always nice."

The Braves wasted one-out, two-runners-on opportunities in the first and third innings and trailed 3-1 after four. Their only run to that point came on Heyward's homer off Burres in the first inning.

They had another prime opportunity in the fifth, after a Prado leadoff single and Chipper Jones' one-out walk.

This time Glaus cashed in, lining a two-run double down the third-base line to the outfield corner for a 3-3 tie. Glaus has 23 RBIs in 26 games in May.

Ross, making his third consecutive start in place of injured catcher Brian McCann, led off the sixth with a single that chased Burres from the game. He was replaced by another lefty, the usually reliable reliever Javier Lopez.

Ross advanced on a pair of wild pitches before Lopez hit slumping Nate McLouth with a pitch. Omar Infante's line-out to right field wasn't deep enough to bring in a run, but Prado's long fly was.

Prado has given the Braves' lineup a significant boost since moving from the second spot to leadoff just over two weeks ago. He has 18 runs and 19 RBIs in his past 19 games, and he has hit .402 this season at Turner Field.

The Braves have won 10 of the past 12 home games to improve their NL-leading home record to 15-6. They've played the fewest home games in the league and start a season-high 11-game trip Friday after their series with Philadelphia.