Charlie Riedel, Associated Press Joe Randa congratulates Craig Wilson after Wilson hit a home run in the first inning against the Royals last night at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. Click photo for larger image. Related articles: Pirates Notebook: Is Torres taking ball too often? Smizik: Tracy's style is different; jury out on whether it is better or not Game Statistics Provided by Forecaster Pirates vs. Royals box score Game play-by-play Today: Game: Pirates (Snell 7-4) vs. Royals (Wood 3-2), 8:10 p.m. Where: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Mo. TV/radio: FSN Pittsburgh/KDKA-AM (1020) and Pirates Radio Network.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It was as if Kip Wells tried to make up for three lost months with one long night.

So deliberate was his pace.

So erratic was his command.

So, so, so many pitches had he thrown.

And so familiar was the result, too, the Pirates ending up on the seriously humbling end of a 10-6 score against the Kansas City Royals last night at Kauffman Stadium.

"It's frustrating," Wells said. "But I'll take it, roll with it, try to improve the next time out."

Making his 2006 debut after missing nearly half the season because of March 6 surgery on a blocked artery, Wells looked little different than the 2005 model who labored to an 8-18 record.

He was chased after 3¹/₃ innings and charged with six runs after giving up five hits, five walks and a run-scoring wild pitch. Of the 18 batters he faced, 11 reached base. Of his 80 pitches, barely half -- 41 -- were strikes.

This despite the Pirates handing him early leads of 4-0 and 5-1.

"That's the most frustrating standpoint," Wells said. "We were able to get ahead, and I wasn't able to hold it."

Manager Jim Tracy downplayed Wells' showing, given that it was his first action since Oct. 1, 2005.

"With what Kip's coming back from, I'm not going to over-analyze it," Tracy said. "It was important for him just to get back out there."

Still, all concerned agreed that Wells might have fared far better if not for the re-emergence of his long-troubling tendency to fall behind after working ahead. He had four 0-2 counts, but also 10 three-ball counts and eight full counts.

"He had good stuff early, but missed later in the sequence," Tracy said.

"You get ahead with strike pitches, and you try to make a better pitch when it's 0-2 or 1-2. Then, you look up, and the count's full," Wells said. "There will be times when you can make those pitches, but, obviously, when you're turning those counts into 3-2, you're letting each hitter see six or seven pitches. That's a tough assignment."

In general, this was a sloppy, sluggish affair, one befitting the two worst teams in Major League Baseball meeting in the most dubious of interleague matchups. There were 17 walks, three errors, three wild pitches, two hit batsmen, one passed ball and -- perhaps the most striking number -- 15,906 who paid to take it all in.

The Subpar Series, anyone?

The Pirates have lost six games in a row and are a season-low 20 games under .500 at 26-46. The Royals, mildly threatening to overtake them by winning four of their past six, are 20-49.

Asked about the importance of the series, given each teams' standing, Tracy replied: "I'm not going to go there."

To be sure, the Pirates were the worse team on this occasion. They had 11 of those walks, all three errors and several other unofficial lapses.

"They beat us tonight," Tracy said. "But we kind of helped their cause."

"Some of those walks were because we had good at-bats," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "But we had a little help, and we took advantage of some of the things they did for us."

Early on, it appeared the Royals would be the generous ones when starter Mark Redman, dealt by the Pirates to Kansas City over the winter, gave up four runs in the opening inning.

Leadoff man Jose Bautista was hit by a pitch and, one out later, Freddy Sanchez doubled to put men at second and third. Jason Bay's sacrifice fly brought home one, a wild pitch the other.

Joe Randa singled, and Craig Wilson drilled an 85-mph fastball high onto the grass hill beyond the 410-foot marker in center for a 4-0 head start.

"Mark wasn't on top of his game early," Bell said.

Wells gave one back in the bottom half, walking the first two batters and, after a double play, throwing a wild pitch that allowed David DeJesus to score.

Sanchez's two-out RBI single in the second put the Pirates back up by four, but Kansas City again responded immediately to pull within 5-4. After two outs, Wells gave up a walk and three hits, including John Buck's two-run double.

In the fourth, a broken-bat RBI single by Angel Berroa tied it, and another walk loaded the bases. That prompted Tracy to lift Wells.

John Grabow entered and walked DeJesus to hand Kansas City its first lead, 6-5.

Grabow was charged with two more runs in the fifth, and the Royals never looked back.

"The walks killed us," Grabow said. "You come into those situations, you've got to be tougher and throw strikes."

Redman fared little better than Wells, lasting five innings and giving up five runs, but he still managed his fourth victory in as many starts.

The Pirates mustered only Jack Wilson's ninth-inning home run, his seventh, off the Kansas City bullpen.