Alas, the clouds over PNC Park on a chilly, dreary afternoon never parted.

And the Pirates, perhaps as a result, fell just short of finding the franchise's holy grail of a .500 record, settling for a doubleheader split yesterday with the Atlanta Braves, a 5-0 shutout and an 8-1 loss.

The opener, highlighted by another quality start from Zach Duke and a bases-clearing double by Freddy Sanchez, brought a six-game winning streak, the Pirates' longest in four years.

But the nightcap, lowlighted by John Van Benschoten getting chased by seven runs and, ultimately, sent back to Class AAA Indianapolis, left their record at 18-20.

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• Box score -- Game One
• Box score -- Game Two
• Statistics
• Standings

Today

• Game: Pirates vs. St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 p.m., Busch Stadium.
• TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7).
• Pitching: LHP Phil Dumatrait (1-1, 3.86) vs. RHP Kyle Lohse (3-2, 4.87).
• Key matchup: As always when facing St. Louis, it is anyone who takes the mound vs. Albert Pujols. He is batting .348 with seven home runs and, most impressive, has reached base in each of his 39 games.
• Of note: The Pirates' seven left-handed pitchers have gone a combined 10-3 with a 3.18 ERA in the 20 games played at lefty-friendly PNC Park.

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Right.

One victory shy.

It would have marked the latest point in a season the Pirates had achieved .500 since June 11, 2005, when that landmark 18-2 rout of Tampa Bay had them at 30-30 and prompted some locals to show up the next afternoon at PNC with banners commemorating it.

Will another chance come?

To be quite sure, this group sounded optimistic, partly because of the 6-1 homestand just completed, partly because they had taken three of four from an Atlanta team that carried its own six-game winning streak into this series ...

"Things are really different," center fielder Nate McLouth said. "Not to look at the past, but how many times around here have we looked back at that one point where we could have gone above .500 and didn't? That's not going to be the case here. We're right there. Look at where we were a week ago and how we've played since then."

The Pirates came home from Washington 12-19.

"I'll tell you this: We're in a lot better shape now than then," utilityman Doug Mientkiewicz said. "We just took three games from a pretty good team, and it wasn't just Nate and Xavier Nady carrying us. It was everybody."

And about .500?

"We're better off not looking at our record, really. Just keep playing. When you set a goal for yourself, what do you do when you reach it? You exhale. We don't need that. What we're doing right now is good enough."

Manager John Russell had much the same reaction to a homestand in which, even with the dud in Game 2 yesterday, their usual starting rotation -- Van Benschoten made a spot start because of the rainout Sunday -- had a combined ERA of 2.28, the offense batted .263 with six home runs, and the defense settled before lapsing back into six errors yesterday.

"Overall, it was a great homestand, obviously," Russell said. "It started with the pitching, we had timely hitting and mostly good defense. We feel pretty good that, when we have all our pieces working, we have a pretty good ball club."

Duke pitched six scoreless innings despite five hits, five walks and three errors behind him. The key, as he pointed out, was that most runners reached base after two outs.

"You just focus on getting the one out," Duke said.

It helped, too, that it was the bottom of Atlanta's order doing much of the reaching.

Still, Duke made the pitches.

"I made quality pitches that had some good life on them. My sinker's really on right now. The ground-ball total speaks for itself."

He had eight ground-ball outs.

His record is 2-2 and his ERA is 4.04, lowest among those who have been in the rotation from season's outset.

Sanchez's big hit came in the fifth: With bases loaded and two outs against Atlanta rookie Jair Jurrjens, he sliced a 93-mph fastball -- Jurrjens' hardest offering of the day -- into the right-field corner to bring a 3-0 lead.

Sanchez has batted five times with bases loaded this season and has three hits and eight RBIs.

"That's what he does," Russell said.

Ryan Doumit led off the eighth with a double off Manny Acosta and, one out later, Adam LaRoche laced a curveball into the seats beyond right-center for his fourth home run, his third in the past eight days.

Remarkably, Atlanta left 15 men on base for the game.

The nightcap offered quite the contrast, on all counts.

Van Benschoten gave up at least one hit in every inning he pitched, nine in all, including Brian McCann's three-run blast in the fifth that put the Braves ahead, 7-1.

Not much to analyze there.

"I thought he threw outstanding for three innings," Russell said of a span in which Van Benschoten allowed a run on four hits while fanning four. "But you have to be consistent."

"I was successful early," Van Benschoten said. "The last couple kind of got away."

Van Benschoten was informed immediately after the game of his demotion, which came just two weeks after his recall. A corresponding move will come today.

Atlanta ace Tim Hudson coasted through seven innings -- one unearned run and two hits -- to improve to 6-2.

"I did a good job changing speeds off my fastball," Hudson said. "When you get a lead, you can experiment a little."

The Pirates' previous winning streak longer than five games came with a 10-game run June 26-July 5, 2004.

Coming up next, beginning tonight in St. Louis: 22 games within the Central Division, potentially a make-or-break three weeks.