Peter Diana, Post-Gazette photos Reliever Salomon Torres grimaces as the Dodgers' Andre Ethier rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run in the eighth inning, putting the Dodgers ahead, 5-4. Click photo for larger image. More Coverage: Pirates Notebook: Runners out at home 13 times Pirates live chat with Dejan Kovacevic, 1 p.m. today Today Game: Pirates (LHP Paul Maholm 2-7, 5.35) vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (RHP Derek Lowe 5-5, 3.32), 7:05 p.m., PNC Park. TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7). Key matchup Everyone vs. Lowe, one of the hottest pitchers in the game. In his past three starts, he has been charged with four runs in 21 innings, including seven shutout innings May 30 in Washington. Of note Los Angeles' Nomar Garciaparra has been supremely clutch: Including his bases-loaded single yesterday, his .472 average with runners in scoring position -- 26 for 55 -- is best in the N.L.

If there is a crueler sport than baseball, well ... it probably has not been invented yet.

Forget that Tom Gorzelanny frittered away most of a four-run lead in the Pirates' 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers yesterday at PNC Park.

Forget, if one can at this point, that Salomon Torres again allowed the decisive blow, this time on Andre Ethier's two-run home run in the eighth inning.

Think about Jose Bautista.

A casual glance inside the Pirates' clubhouse, moments after the game, told the tale.

That was their third baseman, who had performed brilliantly at his position once again, who had made every play when it mattered most, slumped at his stall with matching bags of ice on his right knee and left ankle ... wondering what went wrong.

"Tough one ... tough one," Bautista said, shaking his head. "Look at the way they got those hits. Look at the things that happened out there. How do you explain that?"

Well, to paint that picture, it is first necessary to illustrate the Pirates' high point.

The offense, hardly known for roughing up the National League's elite pitchers, fairly teed off against Los Angeles' Brad Penny, owner of a 7-1 record and 2.06 ERA.

He also was the only starter in Major League Baseball who had not allowed a home run, but Adam LaRoche changed that with the first pitch of the second inning, drilling a Penny fastball high over the Clemente Wall. It was LaRoche's sixth home run, and it was the first Penny had allowed since Sept. 28, 2006.

The Pirates manufactured a run in the third and fourth innings, and Jason Bay led off the fifth by hooking a Penny fastball just inside the left foul pole for his team-best 10th home run and a 4-0 lead.

Never mind that Penny fell ill and was vomiting before the game. As LaRoche put it, "No matter what, you don't expect something like that off a pitcher like Penny."

The Pirates also could not have expected what unfolded from there.

Gorzelanny looked typically cool and collected in carrying that 4-0 lead through six innings. He had held the Dodgers to three hits and had just set them down 1-2-3 in the fifth and sixth.

But they opened the seventh with a Russell Martin single, a Tony Abreu double and a walk to Olmedo Saenz to load the bases.

The door creaked.

Xavier Nady slides safely into home, just beating the tag from Dodgers catcher Russell Martin. Click photo for larger image.

Pinch-hitter Jeff Kent bounced right to Bautista, who already had turned two defensive gems, and Bautista's first thought was a double play. But it took an awkward bounce, up into his stomach, and he had to settle for a forceout at second.

"I've got to play it safe there," Bautista said. "I have to get one out, get the double play in order."

One run was in.

Rafael Furcal's single to left brought another.

Juan Pierre laced an infield single off Gorzelanny's right foot that loaded the bases anew, and Pirates manager Jim Tracy replaced Gorzelanny with Torres.

Did Gorzelanny, who topped 110 pitches in his three previous outings and threw 97 in this one, wear down?

"I don't think so," Tracy replied. "There might have been one pitch in there he'd like to have back, on the Abreu double."

Torres, who pitched two perfect innings Friday on the day he lost his closer's job, got Nomar Garciaparra to hit a grounder to Bautista's left. Bautista dived to make a sensational stop, sprung to his feet and ... the throw across the diamond was not in time.

The score was 4-3.

Torres threw a sharp sinker to draw a Luis Gonzalez forceout that left the bases loaded, but the eighth inning brought more trouble.

Martin again got the Dodgers going by lining a single to left and, again, the double play was in order. So, Torres tried the same sinker that retired Gonzalez.

But this one lay flat, and Ethier uppercutted it into the center-field seats for the Dodgers' first lead, 5-4.

Second baseman Freddy Sanchez cannot come up with a ball hit by the Dodgers' Tony Abreu in the eighth inning. Click photo for larger image.

Abreu's infield single prompted Tracy to summon John Grabow, and Torres was roundly booed by the 23,458 in attendance as he exited.

Gorzelanny and Torres each left the clubhouse without speaking to reporters.

Tracy was asked if he could explain how Torres, so strong in May, suddenly has become so erratic.

"It's hard for me to describe," he replied. "I know that he made the right choice with the sinker. It's a double-play type of pitch. But it didn't have the same action as the one to Gonzalez. It sat there on a plate."

The handful of Pirates lingering in the clubhouse afterward simply sat there, too, reflecting on two late leads that turned into losses in a four-day span. They were up by two in the ninth against the San Diego Padres on Thursday, but that wound up a 4-2 loss.

"It's a little frustrating to let a couple slip away like that," LaRoche said. "They had a couple broken-bat hits, infield jobs and, obviously, the one big one. ... It's tough, man. I feel for Torres. I really do. That's a good person and a good pitcher."

And of Bautista?

"He's been making those plays all year," LaRoche said. "And he'll be back out there making 'em tomorrow."