PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Pirates weren't fazed by facing one of the top closers in the league.

Bruce Aven and Jason Kendall hit two-out, RBI singles in the bottom of the ninth as the Pirates rallied against Montreal's Ugueth Urbina to beat the Expos 4-3.

"It's important early in the season to show you can win games like this," Kendall said. "This should give us confidence against the good closers."

	Urbina

Aven is part of an improved Pirates bench and has a simple philosophy for dealing with situations like Thursday's: He jumped on Urbina's first pitch.

"If I like the pitch, I try to hit it," he said. "I don't try to work counts in my favor or get a certain pitch. I don't have the luxury of saying I can get him next time."

Manager Felipe Alou maintained the Pirates weren't seeing the usual Urbina.

"He wasn't throwing 95, 96 (mph) like he usually does," Alou said. "It was more like 91, 92. Maybe the cold weather bothered him. ... I don't know."

Jose Silva (2-0) got the win despite allowing a go-ahead single to Vladimir Guerrero in the top half of the ninth. It was Guerrero's third hit of the game.

The Expos took a 2-0 lead through three innings and missed chances to get more runs.

Lee Stevens drew a one-out walk in the second and scored on Chris Widger's double. Guerrero started the inning with a single but was thrown out stealing.

Starter Jeremy Powell led off the third with a double and Peter Bergeron followed with a single. The Expos got just one run out of the first-and-third, no-out situation when Jose Vidro grounded into a double play.

"We had opportunities to put them away and we didn't do it," Alou said. "We had an opportunity to do more in the ninth and we didn't do it."

The Expos got one run in the ninth despite getting the first three runners on base.

Pittsburgh scored its first run in the fourth when John Vander Wal and Morris hit consecutive two-out doubles. Brown led off the fifth with a triple and scored on Kendall's sacrifice fly.

The Pirates beat the Expos for the second consecutive night after dropping two of three in each of their first two series.

"Our guys didn't pack it in," Pirates manager Gene Lamont said. "They battled against one of the best closers in the league and it turned into a really good win for us."

Game notes
Guerrero's non-strikeout streak stretched to 19 games and 69 plate appearances. His last strikeout was on Sept. 29 of last season against the Braves. ... Left-handed reliever Graeme Lloyd will rejoin the Expos in Philadelphia on Friday. He has been in Tampa doing rehab work on his shoulder and was placed on the DL retroactive to March 29. ... Jason Schmidt is the Pirates' No. 1 starter but that comes with a price. He's matching up against other teams' best pitchers. He's faced Houston's Shane Reynolds and Arizona's Randy Johnson in his first two starts. Tonight he draws Al Leiter of the Mets. ... Backup catcher Keith Osik will start one of the games this weekend. He's the last Pirates player to appear in a game.