MLB: Pittsburgh 3, Boston 1

PITTSBURGH, June 24 (UPI) -- Paul Maholm allowed a lone run over 5 1/3 innings Friday and received tremendous relief help in bringing the Pittsburgh Pirates a 3-1 win over Boston.

Five relievers followed Maholm to the mound and they combined to give up just three hits with one walk. Maholm (4-8) allowed six hits and walked three, but escaped trouble in helping the Pirates win their third in a row.

Joel Hanrahan finished off the relief effort with a perfect ninth that gave him his 21st save.

Pittsburgh overcame a 1-0 deficit with two runs on the third. Jose Tabata drove in one of the runs with a single and Michael McKenry scored later in the inning on a double play grounder off the bat of Chase D'Arnaud.

Lyle Overbay singled in the final Pittsburgh run in the sixth.

Jon Lester (9-4) gave up the three runs on eight hits in six innings to take the loss. He struck out five.

Boston has dropped three in a row after winning 14 out of 16.