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(Sports Network) - With a pair of former Most Valuable Players struggling, Pat Burrell is throwing the Philadelphia Phillies on his back. Burrell will try to continue his torrid start to the season tonight, when his club begins a three- game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

First-half struggles are nothing new to Burrell, who hit just .215 before the All-Star break last year and .250 in 2006. However, the left fielder is hitting .355 with eight homers and a major-league best 25 runs batted in so far this season. His 24 RBI in April are also a club record for most in the month.

Along with Chase Utley (.385, 10 homers, 21 RBI), Burrell is helping the Phillies overcome the loss of injured 2007 NL MVP Jimmy Rollins (left ankle) as well as the slump of Ryan Howard, who won the award in 2006. Howard is hitting just .176 with four homers and 34 strikeouts, most in the majors.

Burrell was key in Thursday's win over Milwaukee, ripping a go-ahead two-run double with two outs in the eighth inning of a 3-1 victory. Utley went 3-for-4 for his sixth straight multi-hit game while extending his overall hitting streak to nine games.

Jayson Werth hit a solo homer, his third in four games, as the Phillies won for the fourth time in five games and improved to 3-1 on a seven-game road trip. Brad Lidge pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save.

The Pirates' Zach Duke will be forced to try and slow down Burrell and Utley tonight. The duo are a combined 4-for-13 (.308) off of him.

The left-handed Duke will try to shake off his worst outing of the year. After opening the year with three no decisions that saw him post a 2.89 earned run average, he was tagged with a loss on Sunday after giving up five runs on eight hits over just four innings against the Cubs.

The 25-year-old was excellent in his lone home start this year, giving up just a run on eight hits to Chicago over seven innings on April 9, while also striking out a season-high six.

Duke has split his two lone starts against the Phillies and has a 3.65 ERA against them. His lone win against Philadelphia came at home on July 7, 2005, when he hurled seven shutout frames with eight strikeouts.

Though he has gotten off to a solid start for the Phillies this year, Adam Eaton may have trouble continuing that success tonight. He is 2-1 in six games (4 starts) lifetime versus the Pirates, but carries a 9.74 ERA against them into tonight's start.

Interestingly, he is also 1-0 in three games (1 start) at PNC Park despite a 12.86 ERA. The right-hander's lone start in Pittsburgh came on July 31, 2003 while with San Diego, and he got a win despite five innings that saw him allow six runs on six hits and four walks.

The 30-year-old has a 4.74 ERA through four starts this year without a decision. Eaton's last start was on Sunday, when he gave up a season-high four runs on six hits over five innings against the New York Mets.

The Pirates split their recent two-game set with St. Louis. After winning the opener, Pittsburgh was handed a 6-2 setback on Thursday.

Bucs starter Tom Gorzelanny (1-3) didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning, but walked seven batters in another subpar start for Pittsburgh, which had won two in a row. He gave up three runs while surrendering just two hits and fanning four in five innings of work.

The Pirates only logged six hits, one of which was an RBI double by Adam LaRoche. Ryan Doumit scored both runs for Pittsburgh, which is 2-2 on a seven- game homestand.

Xavier Nady had a single in the loss to run his hitting streak to 12 games.

Philadelphia won four of six versus the Pirates last year, but are 2-5 in their last seven games at Pittsburgh.