Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Catcher Humberto Cota tags out the Cubs' Matt Murton, who tries to score from third base on a ball hit in the infield in the fifth inning last night. Click photo for larger image. Related articles Casey leaves game, hospitalized by back spasms Pirates Notebook: Ramirez has golden Three Rivers memory rekindle Smizik: Pirates must find room for Wilson Game Statistics Provided by Forecaster Pirates vs. Cubs box score Game play-by-play

It will be for naught, all this power, all this offensive production the Pirates are putting forth.

So long as they are unable to upgrade their starting pitching, even to the degree that it would be average instead of awful, there will be many more outcomes such as the 11-6 loss to the Chicago Cubs last night before 20,233 at PNC Park.

Beyond a doubt, awful is exactly how to rate the Pirates' rotation to date.

Consider that Victor Santos' 4 1/3-inning start last night was the fourth of less than five innings in these opening 12 games.

Or that the next starter to pitch into the seventh inning will be the first.

Or that the staff is a combined 1-6 with an ERA of 7.65, has allowed opponents to bat .338 and, perhaps most striking, has allowed an average of two baserunners per inning.

Despite it all, and despite a palpably mounting frustration in the Pirates' clubhouse, manager Jim Tracy was adamant there will be no changes to the rotation. And, befitting his optimistic nature, he expressed confidence that the starters will improve.

"I do feel that way," Tracy said. "And that's because I've seen some of the guys in this rotation be very good, even though I was looking at that from afar. What's more, I know that they know what they have to do."

He paused.

"But right now, to be frank with you, it's what's holding us up."

It could not be anything else.

Although the Pirates are 3-9, they are averaging 5.3 runs and have scored five or more in each of the past nine games. Perhaps most impressive, 37 of their 64 runs have come as the result of their National League-leading 21 home runs.

That was the case with four of the runs last night, as Nate McLouth, Craig Wilson and Jason Bay each went deep in the sixth inning.

"If you look at all the offense we're getting, five or six runs a game, that's got to be good enough," Tracy said. "But to expect seven or eight a day? Ridiculous. It's not going to happen. It hasn't happened in the history of the game."

The defense has been fine, too, ranking second in the league before a passed ball and error in the ninth last night.

The bullpen also has fared well, at least among the late-inning men.

It is all about the rotation, and no one is pretending otherwise.

"We can't continue to dig ourselves holes like this," reliever Roberto Hernandez said. "You hope this turns around. Tracy is a patient man, but that's not going to last forever."

Hernandez noted that, aside from Santos, 29, the rest of the rotation is 24 or younger. But he did not come close to offering it as an excuse.

"There's talent there. There really is," Hernandez said. "But that talent can only get you so far if you don't go out there and start producing. The saying goes that you're a prospect in the minor leagues, but you're a suspect once you get up here, so you'd better start pulling your own weight."

To be sure, Santos did not do that in allowing six runs on 10 hits and two walks.

He had been urged by pitching coach Jim Colborn in a meeting last week to attack the strike zone, and he obliged by getting ahead of 16 of the 25 batters he faced. But that did not compensate for his inability to get the ball past the bat. He fanned only one.

"They did a real good job of putting the pitches in play," Santos said.

Chicago's four-run fifth chased Santos with the Pirates down, 6-2, and that deficit grew to 8-2 in the sixth when long reliever Ryan Vogelsong was wild for a second consecutive day and handed the Cubs two runs on two singles, a walk and a hit batsman.

Still, the Pirates' offense, as often has happened in the early going, rallied impressively.

McLouth led off the sixth with his first home run, a looping drive into the center-field seats. Jack Wilson singled to end Chicago rookie Sean Marshall's outing. Michael Wuertz relieved, and Craig Wilson greeted him with a high shot to the left edge of the bleachers for his fifth home run, his fourth in as many days.

Bay followed with his third home run, into the bullpen, and the Pirates were within 8-6.

But Chicago relievers Scott Williamson, Bob Howry and Ryan Dempster deftly retired 12 of the Pirates' final 13 batters to stop the comeback.

So many times in 2005, it was Zach Duke who would apply the brakes to a poor stretch for the Pirates.

Could he do it tonight? Or is that 6.55 ERA for real?

Will anyone do it?

"We all want to, every one of us. We're trying," Santos said. "We've just got to get it done."