Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Closer Salomon Torres reacts after giving up hit to the Padres Mike Cameron to tie the game at 2-2 in the ninth inning last night at PNC Park.

By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It was going to take some doing for the Pirates to diminish Shawn Chacon's dynamite pitching last night at PNC Park, but their bullpen pulled it off by detonating a surefire victory into an ultra-deflating 4-2 loss to the San Diego Padres.

Blowup No. 1: Salomon Torres squandered the two-run lead he was handed in the ninth inning.

Blowup No. 2: Josh Sharpless gave up Mike Cameron's home run in the decisive 11th and was charged with another run.

Yeah.

Ouch.

	Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Starter Shawn Chacon pitched seven innings last night, striking out 10 and allowing three hits against the Padres last night at PNC Park. Click photo for larger image. Today Game: Pirates (LHP Zach Duke 2-5, 5.55) vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (LHP Randy Wolf 6-3, 3.41), 7:05 p.m., PNC Park. TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7). Key matchup: The Pirates trying to hit Wolf, who has allowed just two runs in his past two starts. On April 20, he struck out 10 Pirates in a 10-2 Los Angeles rout. Of note: The four-game series will provide Pirates first baseman Adam LaRoche with the first chance to play professionally against his brother, Andy, recently promoted by Los Angeles. Andy LaRoche, the Dodgers' everyday third baseman, is batting .216 with two doubles in his first 37 at-bats. Related articles Pirates to play in Far East? Pirates Notebook: Little relief from the right Pirates Q&A with Dejan Kovacevic Smizik: Chacon deserves to stay in rotation

"A very, very tough one to lose," Torres said. "I'm very embarrassed by my performance."

"A tough one," manager Jim Tracy said. "But you have to come back the next day."

It might not be easy.

Chacon, in his second start since entering the rotation, was nothing less than dominant: Seven scoreless innings. Ten strikeouts. Three hits.

As Tracy put it, "Oh, my God ... you couldn't have asked for more."

Especially not after Chacon, who opened his evening with four swinging strikeouts, strode off the mound in the seventh inning to a standing ovation from the crowd of 14,966 after fanning Josh Bard and Kevin Kouzmanoff. That stranded a man at second and preserved the Pirates' 2-0 lead.

There was no show of appreciation for a pitcher quite like it at PNC Park all season.

"It was big," Chacon said. "The manager showed faith in me there. He wanted to get the game to Matt Capps and Torres for the eighth and ninth and, nine times out of 10, it's game over when you do that."

Not this one.

Capps had a perfect eighth, but Torres opened the ninth with the ultimate no-no for a closer holding a multiple-run lead: He walked Marcus Giles on five pitches.

"That's what it boils down to," Tracy said. "You have a two-run lead, and you walk the leadoff man."

Asked if there was anything to his game that was not working at that point, Torres replied, "My head, I guess."

A groundout moved Giles to second, bringing up slugger Adrian Gonzalez. Torres threw two quick strikes, including a splitter that dipped under a Gonzalez swing. Usually, an effective splitter is a sign that Torres is sharp, as he had been in limiting opponents to three hits in 40 at-bats over his previous 11 appearances.

Nope.

A flat fastball was slammed off the center-field wall for an RBI double.

"You're up 0-2," Torres said. "You've got three pitches before you have to go after the guy. Instead, I gave him a cookie. It was a rookie-ball 0-2 pitch."

Cameron took a strike, then lined a flat sinker to left field for another double that tied the score at 2-2.

"A sinker," Torres said, shaking his head in citing his favorite pitch.

From there, as Tracy would deftly describe, "You go toe-to-toe with the best bullpen in baseball."

With the Pirates already having fired their best bullets, Tracy turned to Sharpless, recalled last week from Class AAA Indianapolis in the team's revolving-door search for right-handed relief, for the 11th inning.

Cameron launched a 2-1 fastball into the center-field seats to put the Padres ahead, 3-2. Bard followed with what initially was ruled a home run. But Tracy made a case that the ball struck the metal railing atop the Clemente Wall before popping back into play and, after the umpires conferred for nearly five minutes, crew chief Joe West ruled it a double.

Bard sprinted out of the dugout to argue and had to be restrained by San Diego manager Bud Black and the Padres' coaches. Bard and Black were ejected.

It proved immaterial. Rob Bowen, Bard's pinch-runner, was bunted to third and scored on Khalil Greene's sacrifice fly off Jonah Bayliss.

San Diego closer Trevor Hoffman, Major League Baseball's all-time saves leader, raised that total to 498 with a 1-2-3 bottom half of that inning.

The Pirates lost two of three in the series and, though they remained second in the Central Division, dropped 6 1/2 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers.

Chacon started out the year in long relief, sometimes working mopup duty, then struggled with his control upon replacing Tony Armas in the rotation Saturday in Cincinnati. He lasted only 3 2/3 innings and walked five that day.

Last night, he looked born again. His fastball was hitting 95 mph, his sinker was potent, his changeup was biting, and he even mixed in a rarely seen curve.

Twenty of his 102 pitches - 67 strikes - came on clean swings and misses.

Oh, and he walked only one.

What changed?

"It was the walks," Chacon said. "I felt like I had this stuff early in Cincinnati, too, but lost control. Tonight, it was all good. It was one of those nights where you feel like you have everything."

Tracy had another lament: The Pirates' offense squeezed out only two runs off San Diego starter Greg Maddux, who hardly was in Hall of Fame form in giving up nine hits and a walk over his 6 2/3 innings. They stranded nine in that span, five in scoring position.

"We were in position to win that game," Tracy said.

In more ways than one.