Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Jason Bay hits a double, scoring Jose Bautista in the first inning.

By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Zach Duke has spent the past few days dissecting video of his spectacular 2005 rookie season in a desperate effort to rebuild his delivery in that mold, twitch by twitch, after the Pirates altered it the following spring training.

To see his face, serious bordering on sullen, it is easy to detect his determination.

To hear him speak, it is easier still.

"I'll get there," he said the other day at his PNC Park stall. "I have to, and I will."

	Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Starter Zach Duke dropped to 2-6 after giving up five runs and eight hits last night against the Dodgers. Click photo for larger image. Today Game: Pirates (RHP Ian Snell 4-4, 3.14) vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (LHP Hong-Chih Kuo 0-0, 15.43), 7:05 p.m., PNC Park. TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7). Key matchup: The Pirates vs. Kuo, a 25-year-old native of Taiwan who is 1-6 in the early stages of his big-league career. He is expected to be recalled today from Class AAA Las Vegas, where he gave up five runs over 4 2/3 innings Monday. Of note: Just in case Adam and Andy LaRoche each homers tonight ... there have been 15 brothers to do so in the same game. The most recent to do so on opposite teams were Felipe and Cesar Crespo June 7, 2001. Related articles Capps could leave lasting impression Pirates Notebook: Burnett has tired arm, elbow irritation Collier: Pirates serve another cold dish at home

But, to see the results, including the 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers last night ... well, that part is not yet coming easily: He was tagged for five runs in six innings, giving up eight hits and two walks along the way.

Too many baserunners.

Too much to overcome.

"I'm coming around," Duke said afterward, his expression unchanged. "I know the results still looks the same, but the more reps you put in with the delivery, the more the body starts to remember it. I have to be encouraged by that, and I am. At the same time, I'm disappointed I wasn't able to keep the momentum on our side."

What is impossible to detect with Duke is whether there is any sliver of emotion related to the Pirates having changed some aspects of his timing and mechanics in the spring of 2006. He did not complain about it last season, including when he recovered from a poor first half to post a 3.65 ERA after the All-Star break, and he has not done so in opening this year at 2-6 with a 5.73 ERA.

"No big deal," he will repeat anytime the subject is raised.

The Pirates' stance, then and now, is much the same: The changes made by pitching coach Jim Colborn that spring were minor and, if they were a hindrance in any way, it hardly showed in the second half of last season.

Their stance on sticking by Duke has been consistent these first two months, as well: Even though he is now their only struggling starter, manager Jim Tracy made quite clear last night that his status is in no jeopardy.

Asked how long the Pirates plan to remain patient with Duke, particularly with his delivery under reconstruction, Tracy replied, "Well, he pitches six innings tonight and, when he leaves, it's a 5-4 game. You can't fault his effort. He did everything he could possibly do to keep us in the game, and he achieved it."

Asked if Duke's confidence remains intact, Tracy replied: "I'd like to hope so. After this outing tonight, if I'm Zach, I want him to know that we have confidence in him. Even without his best stuff, he goes out there and battles. And, you know ... somewhere in there is the key that unlocks him, as we saw in the second half of last season."

Although there were positive signs on this night, such as 12 swinging strikes, three strikeouts -- as many as he had in the three previous starts combined -- and a handful of quality pitches to quash rallies, the unlocking clearly did not occur.

	Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Chris Duffy reaches for a home run hit by the Dodgers; Russell Martin in the fifth inning last night. Click photo for larger image.

Every time the Pirates made something happen off Los Angeles starter Randy Wolf, Duke would give it right back.

The Pirates leaped ahead, 1-0, in the first on Jason Bay's RBI double. The Dodgers responded in their next at-bat with Andre Ethier's RBI double.

The Pirates went up, 2-1, in the third on Bay's ninth home run, a Wolf slider that was lofted above the Clemente Wall. The Dodgers responded in their next at-bat with three runs on Tony Abreu's two-run double and Rafael Furcal's two-out infield single.

The Pirates tied the score, 4-4, in the fourth on Chris Duffy's two-run triple. The Dodgers responded in their next at-bat on Russell Martin's leadoff home run, a line drive into the center-field landscaping off a 2-1 changeup.

Duke offered little lament on the latter -- "A pretty good pitch," he called it -- and as well as a few others the Dodgers hit, and Tracy backed him on that.

"There were some good pitches their guys hit," Tracy said. "And I thought, overall, Zach was in a position where he had to make some pitches, and he did it. I'll say it again: He got us through six innings, and we were down by a run. And we left some men on base, once again, early in the game."

True enough. Wolf was not at all sharp in giving up seven hits and two walks in his five innings, but the Pirates stranded five in that span.

The one that stuck out the most came in the first, when Jose Bautista was at third and Sanchez at second when Bay's double off the center-field fence stunningly produced only one run. Sanchez inexplicably stayed so close to second base that, by the time Juan Pierre -- owner of one of the sport's weakest outfield arms -- corralled the carom, Sanchez could only reach third. And he would remain there at inning's end.

He could not have been tagging with one out, so ...

"I screwed up," Sanchez said.

"A baserunning miscue," Tracy said.

Once Wolf was out, so were the lights for the Pirates' offense. The Los Angeles bullpen retired 12 of the 14 batters faced in the final four innings and struck out eight of them, Chad Billingsley notching five and closer Takashi Saito three.

Best chance came in the eighth when Adam LaRoche hit a one-out double, but Ronny Paulino and Jack Wilson went down swinging against Saito.

The Pirates, in losing their third in a row, dropped to 23-31, matching their season low mark of eight games under .500. And that is not all they appear to be losing: The game drew an unusually sparse Friday night crowd of 20,164.