Morry Gash, Associated Press Chris Duffy can't come up with a double hit by the Brewers' J.J. Hardy in the second inning yesterday in Milwaukee. Click photo for larger image. Today Game: Pirates (RHP Tony Armas 0-1, 13.50) vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (LHP Randy Wolf 2-1, 4.00), 10:40 p.m., Dodger Stadium. TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7) Key matchup: Adam LaRoche vs. those outfield pavilions. He has four home runs and 12 RBIs in 29 career at-bats at Dodger Stadium. Of note: Los Angeles' 7-2 roll is coinciding with leadoff man - and longtime torturer of the Pirates - Juan Pierre coming alive. After batting .180 in the first dozen games, he is 8 for his past 18 with six runs. Related articles Pirates Notebook: Sanchez's four Ks show his rust Pirates Q&A with Dejan Kovacevic

MILWAUKEE -- The imaginary rectangle that serves as baseball's strike zone was not the one giving Zach Duke fits.

Rather, it was all the finer points within that shape that he was missing, time and again.

And that the Milwaukee batters were clubbing, time and again.

As Duke would put it shortly after the Pirates' 7-5 loss to the Brewers yesterday at Miller Park, "I threw strikes, but not good strikes."

For a second consecutive game, there was not much that was good about Duke's performance, to be generous: He was charged with seven runs on 11 hits over his four innings, and he dug the team a 7-1 deficit by the time he exited. Even most of his outs were struck with authority.

And this just six days after the San Francisco Giants ran up the same run total off him in two innings at PNC Park.

Small wonder that Duke was the focus of manager Jim Tracy's postgame assessment.

"We got hit around in the first four innings of the game," Tracy said. "They had seven runs on ... I believe it was seven hits. Our bullpen was terrific, which afforded us an opportunity to peck away. Which we did. And we played a great defensive game, too. But they beat us around in the first four innings. That's what it boils down to."

Duke seldom showed the usual 92-mph zip on the fastball, and neither did he have enough movement on his breaking pitches to get many swings and misses. Still, all concerned insisted that it was command -- and not the quality of the stuff -- that was the chief issue.

"Command, period," Tracy said. "He was not locating his sinker, and there were a lot of balls that went over a lot of the plate and were elevated. When he does that, he's going to get hit."

Duke agreed.

"My command is not where I want it to be," he said.

That was evident from the outset, when Milwaukee's Rickie Weeks roped a leadoff single, then scored when the next batter, J.J. Hardy, lifted Duke's 0-1 curveball over the fence in left field.

After one out, Bill Hall and Kevin Mench singled, Corey Hart doubled home Hall, and Damian Miller drove in Mench with a deep sacrifice fly.

The inning ended on Tony Graffanino's ringing lineout to right.

And it ended, curiously, with Duke having thrown 20 of 25 pitches for strikes. For the game, he would throw 56 of 80 pitches for strikes.

Usually, that is a good thing.

This time?

"Obviously not," Duke said.

He stranded men in scoring position the next two innings, then gave up three more runs in the fourth. That inning opened with a single, single, double and single. A lineout brought a merciful double play, and a popup finished the inning and Duke's outing.

What seemed to trouble Duke the most was that some of Milwaukee's hits came off pitches out of the zone. That was the case, he said, on all three of Hardy's hits off him, as well as Hart's RBI double.

"They hit some tough pitches, and I couldn't believe they hit 'em as hard as they did," Duke said. "Maybe they were just too comfortable up there."

What probably should trouble Duke the most is that, one way or another, he is giving up hits in bunches again. His 255 hits allowed were the most in the National League last season, and his 32 hits this year -- in just 19 innings -- again leads the way.

Duke's day rendered the rest of the Pirates' afternoon pretty much moot. Even so, a lousy tone was set before he took the mound.

The Pirates loaded the bases off Milwaukee starter Jeff Suppan, thanks mostly to the Brewers. Chris Duffy reached when Weeks failed to handle his one-hop smash to second base. Jack Wilson reached when Weeks failed to cover first on his bunt. Freddy Sanchez bounced out to third, but Graffanino's throw was wild, and runners were on second and third. Finally, Suppan hit Adam LaRoche to fill the bases for Jason Bay.

Four gifts, but still no runs.

And it would remain that way when Bay's broken-bat liner was caught by Hardy at shortstop, then flipped to second for a deflating double play.

"That's tough," Tracy said.

Duke left with the Brewers ahead, 7-1, but the Pirates reduced that to 7-3 on Xavier Nady's two-run home run off Suppan in the sixth, then 7-5 off erratic reliever Derrick Turnbow in the eighth.

LaRoche and Bay drew walks in that inning, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Nady's single. Jose Bautista singled, too, but he and Nady were stranded when pinch-hitter Ronny Paulino struck out -- for the fifth time in his past six at-bats -- and another pinch-hitter, Jose Castillo, grounded out.

Milwaukee closer Francisco Cordero zipped through the ninth with swinging strikeouts of Duffy, pinch-hitter Brad Eldred and Sanchez.

The Pirates, 2-2 on this seven-game trip, begin a three-game set tonight in Los Angeles.

"We obviously didn't swing the bats very well here," Nady said. "It's tough right now, but we can still have a good trip and go home feeling about ourselves. We can't be down."