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(Sports Network) - The Los Angeles Dodgers will try to put together consecutive wins for the first time since the season's first week when the struggling club concludes a three-game series with the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates this evening.

Pittsburgh's four-game win streak came to a screeching halt on Tuesday, as the Dodgers pounded out 13 hits off Pirate pitching en route to an 11-2 rout.

Jeff Kent belted a three-run homer to cap a five-run fifth inning that lifted Los Angeles to just its second victory in eight games. The Dodgers have not won two in a row since defeating San Francisco in its initial two outings of the season.

Andre Ethier went 2-for-3 with a two-run double and a pair of runs scored on the night, while Rafael Furcal, Matt Kemp and Andruw Jones also had multi-hit games for the Dodgers.

Jones ended 2-for-3 with two runs scored and is finally showing signs of breaking out of a lengthy slump. The standout center fielder has three hits in seven at-bats over the last two games after entering the series mired in a 4- for-40 slump.

Teammate James Loney has been hot at the plate, however. The first baseman had an RBI single on Tuesday and has hit safely in all 14 games this year, batting .365 (19-for-52) over that span.

Hong-Chih Kuo and Esteban Loaiza combined on a five-hitter for the Dodgers, with Loaiza (1-2) throwing five innings of one-run ball in relief to pick up the victory. Kuo held the Pirates to a run and just two hits while fanning six over the first four frames.

Pittsburgh starter Matt Morris (0-2) was rocked for six runs in 4 2/3 innings to suffer the loss. Nate McLouth had two hits in defeat to extend his own hitting streak to 14 games.

The Pirates will take their swings tonight against Brad Penny, who will be attempting to rebound from a pair of mediocre showings against San Diego. The All-Star right-hander allowed four runs and 10 hits through six innings in both of those games, receiving a loss in each.

Opponents are hitting .324 against Penny, who went 16-4 with a 3.03 earned run average last season, over his first three 2008 starts.

The 29-year-old is 3-2 with a 4.24 ERA in 11 lifetime starts against Pittsburgh and did not record a decision in two appearances versus the Pirates last year.

Penny's counterpart this evening, Paul Maholm, is coming off an impressive performance his last time out. The left-hander twirled 5 1/3 shutout innings against Cincinnati on Friday, but did not factor in the decision in a game the Bucs won 1-0 on Jason Bay solo homer in the sixth.

Maholm did some good things in his first start of the year as well. He struck out a career-high nine over five innings at Florida on April 5, although he surrendered five runs and wound up with the loss in Pittsburgh's 7-3 setback.

The former first-round pick has faced Los Angeles three times previously and gone 0-2 with a lackluster 6.50 ERA in those games. In his lone start at Dodger Stadium, Maholm allowed four runs over 5 2/3 innings in a 4-3 defeat on September 23, 2005.

The Dodgers took two of three games from the Pirates at home last season and are 10-5 against Pittsburgh at Chavez Ravine since 2005. Los Angeles also won five of the seven overall encounters between the clubs last year.