CHICAGO -- The giddy laugh and the mile-wide, youthful smile on Zach Duke's face as he listened to reporters ask him questions about winning his first career start at Wrigley Field against Greg Maddux may have been the perfect example of just how surprising the Pirates' victory was on Saturday.

Heading into Saturday's game, the advantage clearly looked to be on Maddux's side. It was 624 career starts facing off against three, 313 wins taking on one career victory and a 22-year-old rookie taking on a man who made his Major League debut when Duke was the tender age of three.

"I'm just very honored to be on the same field as him, really," Duke said.

He may have been honored to share the same mound, but it was Duke that walked away with the victory on Saturday as he delivered an absolute pitching gem in the Pirates' 3-0 victory over the Cubs (45-45).

In front of a crowd of 39,790, Duke outdueled Maddux to pick up his second win of the season. The southpaw pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing six hits, walking two and striking out four.

Maddux (8-7) gave up two earned runs on five hits over eight, walking one and striking out six.

The victory helped to snap the Pirates' (40-50) three-game losing streak, in which the offense had struggled, scoring only one run in each of the losses. Though the offense tallied three runs and six hits off Maddux, manager Lloyd McClendon was quick to give all the credit to his pitcher.

"He did an outstanding job," McClendon said. "He's a tough cookie. He knows what he's doing out there. Today, he made some quality pitches when he needed to and got a lot of ground-ball double-play outs, and that's always big in a close ballgame."

It wasn't only his own ballclub that he impressed with his outing either. Maddux had his own kind words for the young hurler.

"I threw OK, but I got outpitched. Their guy didn't make many mistakes and pitched a very good game. He shut down a team that's been swinging the bats really good the last few games."

Duke's stellar performance on the mound would, at first glance, appear to be the highlight of the youngster's day, but not necessarily so in a game where the left-hander recorded his first career RBI off Maddux as well.

"I'm more proud of that than anything, to be honest with you," Duke said with a laugh. "I got an RBI off Greg Maddux. I have to call home and tell my parents that for sure. It's one of those things [where] I put the bat on the ball and got lucky."

"I'm more proud of that than anything, to be honest with you. I got an RBI off Greg Maddux. I have to call home and tell my parents that for sure."

-- Zach Duke

Luck was on his side at the plate and with the stellar play of the defense behind him all day. The rookie was also the beneficiary of some key defensive plays.

Duke (2-0) got himself into a bit of a jam as he gave up back-to-back singles to start the sixth before striking out Derrek Lee for the first out in the inning. With men on third and first and only one out, Aramis Ramirez hit a grounder to third baseman Rob Mackowiak, who helped Duke out by starting the 5-4-3 double play. It was one of four double plays by the Pittsburgh defense in the game.

McClendon called that sixth-inning defensive play one of the key momentum swings for the Bucs, and even Duke admitted that he was surprised to get out of the inning unscathed.

"I was very surprised," Duke said. "First and third with nobody out and the Triple Crown leader up there, you know I couldn't ask for it to work out better than it did."

Duke had the advantage of pitching all day behind a lead, though, as Jason Bay hit his 17th home run of the season in the first to put the Pirates up 1-0. Duke himself helped add to the total in the second and Matt Lawton hit an RBI double in the seventh to seal the 3-0 victory.

Though so much of Duke's day was impressive, there were still moments when his youth was on full display. Such was the case when Duke pumped his fist after getting the key double play in the sixth.

And it wasn't like Duke was unhappy to be in the situation of facing guys like Lee and Ramirez. Instead, he was rather thrilled to have those hitters at the plate -- not exactly what you would expect from a rookie.

"You want to be against the best in those situations," Duke said. "What is the fun of playing baseball if you're not going to be put to the test?"

The win proved costly, however, as outfielder Craig Wilson fractured the fifth metacarpal of his left hand when he was hit by Maddux's pitch in the first inning.