Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Craig Wilson is tagged out by the Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez in a rundown in the fourth inning at PNC Park. Click photo for larger image. Today Game: Marlins (Scott Olsen 1-2) vs. Pirates (Zach Duke 2-3), 7:05 p.m. Where: PNC Park. Radio: KDKA-AM (1020) and the Pirates Radio Network. Related articles Pirates Notebook: Burnitz apologizes for failing to run out grounder Collier: Pirates meet their match in Marlins Game Statistics Provided by Forecaster Pirates vs. Marlins box score Game play-by-play

How much separated the two worst teams in Major League Baseball?

Precious little, apparently.

Three and a half hours, 21 runs, 33 hits, three errors and three wild lead swings after it started, the Pirates staved off Florida, 12-9, last night before 24,990 at PNC Park to avoid lapsing behind the Marlins for the dubious distinction of lowest winning percentage in the majors.

Jason Bay's sacrifice fly and Ronny Paulino's two-run single in the bottom of the eighth inning broke open a 9-9 tie, minutes after the Pirates had blown a four-run lead, hours after they had overcome a five-run deficit.

As if that were not enough, Mike Gonzalez left the bases loaded in closing it out in the ninth.

"Obviously, it wasn't the cleanest game in the world," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "That's safe to say."

His Florida counterpart, Joe Girardi, offered a similar assessment, albeit one nearly as sloppy as the subject matter.

"It was a poorly played game," Girardi said. "And that's what happens when you have a poorly played game."

It was a peculiar one, too.

Pirates starter Victor Santos was shelled for five runs on seven hits, including four doubles, in the first inning. He coolly posted five zeroes after that.

"I just wanted to make adjustments and stay aggressive," Santos said. "Give my team a chance."

"Give Victor Santos credit," Tracy said. "That was a rugged first inning."

Marlins starter Sergio Mitre exited after only three pitches with what team officials described as discomfort in his right -- and throwing -- shoulder. That forced Girardi to summon Jason Vargas into early relief.

The Pirates scored four runs in the third, the final three when Bay drove a Vargas fastball the other way for a bases-clearing triple high off the Clemente Wall.

Bay, dropped to sixth in the order for the first time since 2004 because Tracy wanted him to relax with men on base, described the satisfaction as sweet.

"It was huge," Bay said. "All the things I've been working on, all the things I've been learning ... a lot of things paid off with that one swing, that one moment."

Bay wound up 2 for 3 with four RBIs, raising his still-modest total to 18.

Tracy declined to say if he would keep Bay in the sixth spot, but he allowed that he liked what he saw.

"He took very good swings all night long," Tracy said. "It's not the first time I've moved a guy down like that, and the game still seems to find its way to the player. He came through."

The Pirates scored four more in the fourth -- all charged to Vargas -- to take an 8-5 lead, the key hit coming on Jeromy Burnitz's two-out, two-run single off Ricky Nolasco.

They added another in the sixth when Nate McLouth scored the third of his four runs by walking, stealing second and coming around on Craig Wilson's single. Wilson would wind up 3 for 3 with a walk and a hit batsman.

But reliever Salomon Torres turned that 9-5 lead into a tie in the eighth when Florida strung together four singles and got two runs out of third baseman Jose Bautista's error on a bouncer by Reggie Abercrombie.

Matt Capps relieved and gave up an RBI single to Dan Uggla to make the score 9-9, but he ended the inning by using his sinker to get Miguel Cabrera, the Marlins' best hitter, to ground sharply into a 4-6-3 double play.

"We've shown all year we're not going to lay down," Capps said.

McLouth started the Pirates' eighth with a single off Todd Wellemeyer. Freddy Sanchez popped out, but Wilson was hit by a pitch and Burnitz walked to load the bases for Bay's sacrifice fly. Paulino followed with a two-run single over Uggla, the second baseman.

Befitting the game, the ninth would not go smoothly.

Josh Willingham led off with a single off Gonzalez and, after an out, Mike Jacobs walked and Miguel Olivo loaded the bases with an infield single.

Abercrombie worked a 3-0 count, but Gonzalez battled back and caught him looking at a curveball for a strikeout.

Pinch-hitter Chris Aguila hit a flare into shallow right field, but second baseman Jose Castillo ranged back to catch it for Gonzalez's fifth save in as many opportunities.

The Pirates improved to 11-25, marginally better than the Marlins' 9-24, and won for the third time in their past five games.

"It wasn't the prettiest game," Tracy said. "But we showed a lot of character due to the way the game started. To bounce back in the manner that we did was terrific."

Sanchez might have put it best: "We'll take it."