MILWAUKEE -- Describing the mess that was the Pirates' 6-3 loss to Milwaukee last night takes some doing, but in a nutshell?

"We made too many mistakes and baserunning errors, and obviously they did some damage in the seventh inning when we had to keep the game close," manager Jim Tracy said.

The ugly loss, the Pirates' sixth in their past eight games, wasn't set in stone until sizzling J.J. Hardy, hitting .431 during a 16-game hitting streak, drove a three-run home run against Matt Capps to boost the Brewers' lead to 6-2 in the seventh.

	Today Game: Pirates (RHP Tony Armas 0-2, 8.66) vs. Milwaukee Brewers (RHP Ben Sheets, 2-2, 4.25), 2:05 p.m., Miller Park. TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7). Matchup: Sheets vs. left-handed batters, whom he's holding to a .196 average this season. Related articles Inside the Pirates: Many ways to define defense Pirates Notebook: Maholm's troubling trend continues Paul Meyer's Baseball Rankings

Two pitches later, plate umpire Alfonso Marquez ejected Capps after the right-hander's 0-1 pitch clipped Prince Fielder on his arm near his right shoulder.

"Capps has got pretty good control," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "He can really bang strikes. It looked a little fishy. If you can't keep your composure and you throw at a guy, there's a difference in throwing down low and throwing at [a player's] head."

"I was ahead on the count," said Capps, who reacted with heated incredulity after being ejected. "The last thing I want to do is put anybody on. I guess it was a judgment call there."

"I don't think that's the character of Matt Capps," Tracy said, referring to Capps intentionally hitting a batter. "But [Marquez's] interpretation of the circumstances was that it could have been intentional and you could completely lose control of the baseball game."

The Pirates began losing control of the baseball game in the second inning.

They wasted a leadoff double by Adam LaRoche in the top of the inning, although they eventually loaded the bases with two outs. Chris Duffy dropped a bunt down the third-base line that could have scored LaRoche, but pitcher Jeff Suppan made a great play to force LaRoche at the plate.

In the bottom of the inning, Damian Miller had a leadoff single off Zach Duke's glove. Tony Graffanino hit a routine bouncer to second baseman Freddy Sanchez.

Miller ran in front of Sanchez, but Sanchez still had a play. But the ball went off his glove and caromed into short right-center field. The two-base error put Brewers on second and third.

Tracy briefly argued for an interference call but knew he wouldn't get it because Miller did give Sanchez an opportunity to field the ball.

"If Freddy had taken one more step [in] and made contact with the runner, [Miller] would have been out," Tracy said.

"I felt like we should have had an interference call," said LaRoche, whose throwing error handed Milwaukee a run in the first inning. "I thought it was clear."

The Brewers turned the error into two runs. Suppan drove in the first with a soft single into right-center field. The other scored when Rickie Weeks bounced into a double play begun by Sanchez.

Milwaukee's lead remained 3-0 until the sixth inning, which Sanchez began with a double. Jason Bay drew a four-pitch walk. LaRoche, getting his first multi-hit game since April 7, bounced a run-scoring single into right field.

Ryan Doumit hit a shot off Suppan's leg. The ball caromed in front of the Milwaukee dugout on the first base side. Bay raced to third, where he stopped. But LaRoche rounded second hard and started toward third.

That caused Bay to break for the plate, and he was an easy out.

"That's a play they teach you starting in Little League," LaRoche said. "You 'mirror' the guy in front of you. I peaked at Jason when he was on top of [third base]. I just assumed he was going. I put my head down and kept running."

Instead of having the bases loaded and no outs, the Pirates had runners on first and third with one out.

"Everything's right in front of [LaRoche]," Tracy said. "You have to run with your head up."

LaRoche was then out at the plate when, running on contact, he had to try for home on Jose Bautista's hard bouncer to third. The mistake on this play was that Doumit and Bautista didn't advance a base each, so there were still runners on first and second.

That became important when Ronny Paulino doubled down the left field line. Only Doumit scored.

After intentionally walking pinch-hitter Jose Castillo, left-hander Brian Shouse tied up Chris Duffy with an inside fastball on 3-2 and struck him out.

The Pirates wouldn't score again until the ninth inning when Xavier Nady hit a leadoff home run.

Nady entered the game in a double-switch with Capps in the seventh. That meant Bay left the game, but Tracy reasoned the Pirates had to keep the game at 3-2 and he wanted Capps to pitch the eighth if he closed out the seventh. Had the Pirates gotten the lead, Salomon Torres would have pitched the ninth.

Hardy's home run took care of keeping the game close. Marquez's decision took care of Capps pitching the eighth.

It was the 16th game in which the Pirates scored three runs or less. They've scored in only five of their past 41 innings -- a total of nine runs.