Matt Freed, Post-Gazette
	Jack Wilson stretches to try to tag out the Braves' Adam LaRoche in the fifth inning last night at PNC Park. LaRoche was safe.

It has been a fine year for Jason Bay.

A fine career, actually, to this point.

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But he experienced five minutes last night that were as flustering and frustrating as any he could recall, and it undoubtedly undid the Pirates in their 3-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves at PNC Park.

"It was definitely up there," Bay would say later. "Obviously, it wasn't the ideal."

This was part one ...

The Pirates had tied the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning on Jack Wilson's two-out single that brought home Chris Duffy from second.

When left fielder Matt Diaz allowed that ball to slip under his glove, each runner took an extra base.

That left Atlanta manager Bobby Cox with a choice:

A. Pitch to Freddy Sanchez, the National League's leading hitter, with a base open.

B. Go right at Bay.

He went with the latter and ordered reliever Tyler Yates to intentionally walk Sanchez, making Cox the second to take that option in the past week. The Milwaukee Brewers' Ned Yost did it July 26.

"We're seeing that now," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "The game is in the balance right there, and you know Freddy's going to put the ball in play somewhere. It's a respect factor."

Or, in Bay's case, a lack of respect. He has 76 RBIs, but he also lugged a .248 average with runners in scoring position into the box.

Bay took the first pitch for a ball, then popped up to shallow center to draw a loud groan from the 21,064 in attendance.

"I wanted a fastball I could drive, and I got it," he said. "I just got under it."

It would get worse ...

Willy Aybar opened the eighth by stroking a ball off reliever Salomon Torres toward the gap in left-center. Bay timed his jump well and arrived in plenty of time to get his glove around the ball in full stride, but it clunked right off, and Aybar was on second.

"I just didn't catch the ball," Bay said. "A major-league player makes that catch. I just didn't do it, and it ended up costing us."

It was his third error in 230 chances in left field.

Marcus Giles, the next batter, reached first on a bunt single when the ball eluded a diving Torres to the right of the mound. Edgar Renteria brought home the winning run with a sacrifice fly to deep right.

It was the Pirates' second loss in a row on the heels of that season-best five-game winning streak, their 27th by a run.

"It's a tough one to lose, but we've had a number of those this year," Tracy said. "In games like that, the slightest mistake is going to cost you."

This one was tight heading into Bay's bout with misfortune, courtesy of a spirited starters' duel between Paul Maholm and Horacio Ramirez, Atlanta's blossoming left-hander.

Maholm, gradually showing more signs of his excellent 2005 form, limited the Braves to two runs, five hits and a walk in seven innings. In his previous start, the first after pitching coach Jim Colborn altered his mechanics to create a consistent delivery, he also went seven strong innings.

He credited the change.

"I feel like I'm able to repeat my windup and not think about it," Maholm said. "Because of that, I'm getting ahead early and forcing batters to swing at my pitch."

He is becoming modestly more efficient, too, registering pitch counts of 98 and 95 in those two starts.

"The key is that Paul's getting those numbers down," Tracy said. "And that's because he's not pitching into hitters' counts anymore."

Trouble was, Ramirez was just as good, posting a nearly identical line of two runs and five hits over 6 2/3 innings.

The Pirates did not have a hit until Sanchez's two-out single in the fourth, one that was followed by Bay's RBI double.

Atlanta tied the score in the next inning on back-to-back doubles by Adam LaRoche and Todd Pratt, then took the lead on Diaz's home run -- off a hanging curve and into the first row of bleachers -- that opened the seventh.

The Pirates looked like they might rattle Ramirez in the sixth when, after two outs, they loaded the bases on a single and consecutive walks. But Jose Bautista, despite the wildness that preceded him, swung at Ramirez's first pitch -- a cut fastball on the inside corner -- and fouled out.

"The guy was throwing strikes all night," Bautista said.

After the Pirates tied the score, then fell behind again, they were put down in order in the final two innings, Bob Wickman notching his second save in as many nights.

Atlanta is in line for a three-game sweep this afternoon.