Chris Pizzello, Associated Press Pirates starting pitcher Oliver Perez points to where he was hit on a single by the Dodgers' Russell Martin in the second inning last night in Los Angeles. Perez stayed in the game. Click photo for larger image. Looking ahead Today: Pirates (Zach Duke 5-6) vs. Dodgers (Aaron Sele 3-2), 10:10 p.m. Where: Dodgers Stadium. TV/Radio:FSN Pittsburgh/KDKA-AM (1020) and Pirates Radio Network. Related articles Pirates Notebook: Gagne predicts Tracy will win in Pittsburgh Cook: Garner's All-Star move puts Tanner in dugout Game Statistics Provided by Forecaster Pirates vs. Dodgers box score Game play-by-play

LOS ANGELES -- Rock bottom?

No, the shovels still have plenty of room to dig, apparently.

Oliver Perez was smacked around for seven runs in 3 ²/₃ innings as the Pirates dropped their ninth in a row, a 10-4 lashing by the Los Angeles Dodgers last night at Dodger Stadium.

If they lose again tonight, it will mark the franchise's first 10-game losing streak in nearly four decades: That came with an 0-10 slide July 6-15, 1968.

"I don't know where it ends. It's hard to say," reliever Matt Capps said. "I know this: It sure feels like the bottom right now."

Is it?

The franchise's longest losing streak is 23, set by the infamous 1890 Pittsburg Alleghenies. That one probably is safe.

But the modern, or post-1900, futility mark of 12 that was set in 1939 is very much in reach. The Pirates have two more games in this series -- the Dodgers have won 21 of the past 26 meetings -- then return to PNC Park to face the defending World Series champion Chicago White Sox and the first-place Detroit Tigers.

Manager Jim Tracy has spoken quite a bit this season about the Pirates' 21 one-run losses -- he raised the subject again with reporters before his first game back in Los Angeles -- but the trend lately has been the opposite: During this losing streak, their margins of defeat have included six, four, eight and now this.

He was asked afterward if had concerns that the season is spinning out of control.

"No," he said flatly. "To stop it, we need to get back to the point where we get a well pitched game. And I'm not necessarily talking about 5 ¹/₃ innings or just six. When you get only that far, you will have a number of innings to fill in the bullpen."

No Pirates starter has pitched six full innings in the past five games.

"That's just not going to get it done," Tracy said.

Perez lost for the fifth time in as many starts to drop his record to 2-10, worst in the National League and tied for worst in Major League Baseball with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' Scott McClung.

He had been sharp in his previous two outings, limiting opponents to three earned runs in 14 ¹/₃ innings and walking only two, but that was wiped away in a hurry last night. He walked seven of the 23 batters he faced -- all but two came around to score -- and threw just half of his 96 pitches for strikes.

"I was up a little bit, trying to throw too hard," Perez said. "That brought my arm slot down a little bit."

And that, he added, cost him the changeup that has been his out pitch, including when he struck out the side in the second.

Los Angeles scored one each in the first and third innings, then chased Perez with five in the fourth. The big blow came after two outs when Jeff Kent sent the first pitch he saw -- a flat changeup -- inside the left pole for a three-run home run and a 7-0 Dodgers lead.

"It was up in the zone," Perez said. "And he's a great hitter."

"They're going to figure out pitches like that," catcher Ronny Paulino said. "Oliver's changeup was like a cut fastball sometimes."

The capacity crowd of 55,823 stood and roared for Kent as if it were a playoff game.

J.D. Drew followed with a single, and Perez was lifted by Tracy. On his way to the dugout, Perez barked at home plate umpire Jerry Layne.

He tried to shake it all off afterward.

"I feel better with my mechanics and all my pitches," Perez said. "I think today I was just a little wild. I have to see the tapes and see what happened."

Tracy sounded like someone who has seen this footage rewound too many times.

"The story of Oliver Perez simply is this: Either he is really, really good, or he is way off," Tracy said. "There has been very little in between."

Los Angeles starter Brett Tomko was forced to leave after five scoreless innings because of a strained oblique, and reliever Jae Seo mopped up the final four.

"He went out there and gave us five good innings," Dodgers manager Grady Little said of Tomko.

The Pirates' lone offensive blips came in the seventh when Craig Wilson hit his 11th home run, a two-run shot to the left-field pavilion off a Seo curveball, and two more meaningless runs in the ninth.

It will be on Zach Duke tonight to keep the streak from reaching double digits.

"It's really bad right now," Paulino said. "I think pretty much everybody is giving 100 percent and ... we just can't get it right."