LaRoche is hitting .304 with three home runs and 10 RBIs in 14 games this season. In his first five years in the majors, he hit .182 in April.

La Roche is 14-for-34 (.412) with seven doubles, two homers and seven RBIs in the last nine games. He also went 7-for-11 (.636) with four doubles and four RBIs in the series sweep.

"I've talked about my Aprils so much in the past that there's nothing left to say," LaRoche said.

Instead, LaRoche wanted to talk about a Pirates sweep that improved their record to 9-6 and put them three games over .500 this late in a season for the first time since they were 12-5 on April 21, 2002.

"What I liked about this series is we took advantage of every mistake they made, whether it was taking the extra base on a throw or scoring on a passed ball," LaRoche said. "Good teams play that way, and we did for three straight days. This was not some kind of fluke. We played very good baseball."

That begged the question of whether the Pirates, universally picked to finish last in the National League Central this season, might be in the beginning stages of something special.

"I don't know if we're there just yet, but we're getting there," LaRoche said. "You can see guys are starting to believe that we can win. It's growing every day. It's not quite where it needs to be, but it's getting a little stronger with each win."

PIRATES 7, MARLINS 4: Adam LaRoche went 4-for-5 with three doubles as the Pirates completed a three-game series sweep and won for the fifth time in the last six games. Paul Maholm (3-0) allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings but was able to stay unbeaten. Matt Capps worked a scoreless ninth for his fifth save in as many opportunities.