Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Humberto Cota pulls in a foul ball off the bat of Albert Pujols in the seventh inning yesterday at PNC Park.

By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It would be easy to isolate on Salomon Torres.

He stood alone on that muddy mound, the focus of a virtually vacant PNC Park on a bone-chilling, windswept afternoon, seconds after Chris Duncan's ninth-inning home run sailed into the center-field seats to cost the Pirates another dispiriting loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, this by a 3-2 count yesterday.

He probably cast a tragic figure in the eyes of the announced crowd of 9,959.

	Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Jason Bay breaks his bat as he grounds into a fielders choice in the third inning Wednesday against the Cardinals. Click photo for larger image. Tomorrow Game: Pirates (LHP Zach Duke 1-0, 3.46) vs. San Francisco Giants (RHP Russ Ortiz 0-1, 5.40), 7:05 p.m., PNC Park. TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7) Of note: Looking for a bright side after the three-game sweep? The Pirates have gone 47 consecutive innings without an error. Related articles Pirates Notebook: Not so grand with thefts Pirates Q&A with Dejan Kovacevic Collier: Pirates serve up another free lunch for Cardinals

But that scene never should have come to pass, Torres' teammates insisted later, if only because they once again offered so little offensive support.

Yesterday, the Pirates had eight hits and drew seven walks, but stranded 13 runners.

For the three-game series, which St. Louis swept, they managed four runs over 30 innings.

"Oh, no, this isn't on our closer," left fielder Jason Bay said. "We had so many chances to come up with the big hit in this series. I don't put that on Salomon for one second."

"It's on all of us," second baseman Freddy Sanchez said. "We've all come up -- myself included -- in big situations but haven't gotten the job done."

The Pirates' most pressing issue in opening this season 4-5 has been a general lack of offense. Their .225 batting average and .291 on-base percentage are lowest in the National League.

But the dominant problem in this series, without question, was going 3 for 25 with runners in scoring position.

And this happened despite facing some rather ordinary pitching, from converted reliever Braden Looper to minor-league recall Randy Keisler to Adam Wainwright pitching at less than his sharpest yesterday.

Just ask Wainwright.

"I just wasn't very good," he said after his two runs over 6 2/3 innings. "A lot of situations out there, we got out of most of them. But it wasn't very good."

Not for the team failing in those situations, either.

"Don't point the finger at Salomon Torres when there's absolutely no room for error," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "We keep sending guys up there with opportunities to get the hit that's going to win the game, and we're just not getting it."

Leadoff man Chris Duffy did his part: He reached base four times, including a one-out triple in the third. But he never touched home plate.

Even when the Pirates scored, it came with tooth-pulling effort.

In the fourth inning, it took four singles to squeeze out one run, that on Humberto Cota's looper to left. Bases were left loaded when Jack Wilson flied out.

In the eighth, the Pirates rallied -- if it can be called that -- for a 2-2 tie by scoring one run despite not registering an official at-bat until the seventh man had stepped to the plate.

Say what?

Pinch-hitter Don Kelly was hit by a pitch, Duffy walked, and Wilson bunted them over. Sanchez pushed Kelly across with a sacrifice fly. Wainwright walked Bay and was replaced by Russ Springer, who walked Xavier Nady to fill the bases.

Brad Eldred gave the first pitch he saw quite a ride, but left fielder So Taguchi neatly tracked it down near the North Side Notch to end the inning.

"A 408-foot out," Tracy said, shaking his head.

After starter Paul Maholm's five innings -- two runs on six hits and three walks -- Jonah Bayliss, Juan Perez and Matt Capps pitched scoreless relief leading up to the climactic ninth.

Torres had blown a save the previous night, giving up a two-run lead in the ninth in the Pirates' 3-2, 12-inning loss. And he said afterward of the chance that he might pitch again the next day, "I want the same situation. And the outcome is going to be different."

Tracy gave him that chance, summoning him to protect the 2-2 tie.

"It made sense to do so," Tracy explained. "That's your guy."

Torres got a flyout from David Eckstein, a promising start. Next, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa sent Duncan to pinch-hit for Taguchi, even though Taguchi had gone 3 for 3.

With the count 2-2, Cota called for an inside fastball. Torres shook him off, wanting the sinker.

The sinker came, but it never sunk. Instead, it cut across the plate toward the left-handed Duncan.

"Right into his wheelhouse," as Cota put it.

Torres, fielding questions from reporters for nearly 20 minutes, was typically blunt in accepting blame.

"I feel like I cheated my team the last two days," he said. "It's time for that to stop. And it will stop. You will see the old Salomon, the one that got those four saves in Houston and Cincinnati, in the next series."

He said he detected a lack of aggressiveness, of confidence in his pitches, when studying video of his performance Tuesday. And that view of his work did not change yesterday.

"I need to believe in my pitch. I can't control the outcome, but I can control how I feel when I let it go."

And how did he feel about that non-sinker?

"Not good."

Still, Torres' manager and teammates expressed confidence.

"He's throwing the ball well," Tracy said. "This doesn't take away from that."

"He's our closer," Cota said. "He's been great for Pittsburgh for the past five years and, believe me, we've got his back in here."