CHICAGO -- Neil Walker went 4 for 5 with a home run, double and four RBIs as the Pirates put down a slew of sizable streaks in a sigh-of-relief 14-7 clobbering of the Chicago Cubs tonight at Wrigley Field:

• A 14-game road losing streak, the previous victory outside Pittsburgh having come July 28 in Denver.

• A four-game overall losing streak, those comprising the first games of this trip.

• An 11-start winless streak for Jeff Karstens, whose six quiet innings brought his first W since June 19.

• A 204-inning streak of failing to score more than three runs, dating back to Aug. 16, this ending with a four-run first.

Add to that the sudden conversion of a long string of listless, lethargic play -- perhaps lowlighted the previous night with a 14-2 loss to these same Cubs -- into an energetic display that included several defensive gems, and the whole scene could not have been much more satisfying for the Pirates.

Explanations?

The offense was highlighted by ... well, by the fact that there was more than one or two highlights: Garrett Jones hit his 20th home run, a two-run shot, and had three RBIs. Andrew McCutchen began climbing out of a rare slump with a double, two singles, a walk and two RBIs. Ronny Cedeno had a two-run double. And Pedro Alvarez, even amid four strikeouts, had an RBI double.

Still, Walker stood out.

He singled to right in his first at-bat and eventually scored. After a strikeout in the second, he opened the fourth with a single, followed immediately by Jones' shot above the center-field ivy. He followed Tabata's leadoff single in the sixth with a two-run shot of his own. And he lined a two-run double to left-center in the seventh.

That raised Walker's RBI total to 48 in just 80 games, roughly half a season.

The 14 runs represented the Pirates' second-most since July 21 against the Milwaukee Brewers, the most on the road since May 31, 2008, a 14-4 victory in St. Louis.

That is quite some breakout for a team that had lost 38 of its previous 42 on the road.

Most of this damage was done to Chicago starter Ryan Dempster, who entered 12-8 with a 3.42 ERA but was rocked for seven runs in three innings, and it was 9-0 through the fourth. The Cubs had that same lead at the same point Monday.

Karstens bounced back from arm fatigue that prompted management to have him skip a turn: He held Chicago to two runs and four hits, striking out six, and he did it all in a fairly efficient 87 pitches.

His record improved to just 3-10, but he was not about to toss it back.

Sean Gallagher gave up five Chicago runs in late relief.

For all the sorry statistics so easily accumulated over a 44-88 season, check out this oddity: The Pirates now are 10-4 against the Cubs, accounting for 22.7 percent of their victory total.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that is the highest such percentage in Major League Baseball since the 2008 Washington Nationals won 12 of their 59, or 20.3 percent, against the Atlanta Braves. It is the highest for the Pirates since 2002, when they won 15 of their 72 against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.