Mark Avery, Associated Press Starter Tom Gorzelanny hits the ground after trying to field a ball hit by Angels third baseman Chone Figgins for a single in the third inning yesterday in AnaHeim, Calif. Click photo for larger image. Tomorrow Game: Pirates (LHP Paul Maholm 3-10, 5.01) vs. Florida Marlins (RHP Dontrelle Willis 7-6, 4.90), 7:05 p.m., Dolphin Stadium. TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7). Related articles Pirates Notebook: Littlefield says team's basics are 'better' Collier: How to improve the Pirates by going in reverse Chat with Dejan Kovacevic at 1 p.m.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Adam LaRoche had just drawn a six-pitch walk when he flipped his bat in the direction of the Pirates' dugout and gave a long glare.

His team was down a run with two outs in the ninth, and his message was clear.

"I wanted a run," LaRoche recalled. "Not just me. Everybody wanted a run."

And they got it.

They got that jolt LaRoche was seeking when his pinch-runner, Rajai Davis, advanced two bases on wild pitches by Los Angeles closer Francisco Rodriguez and Xavier Nady looped an RBI single into left, tying the score and electrifying the visitors' dugout.

Only to lose.

Again.

Erick Aybar's RBI single off Matt Capps in the 10th inning lifted the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-3 victory and a three-game sweep. And the winningest team in Major League Baseball whooped it up on the Angel Stadium diamond, dancing along with the 42,346 in attendance.

All the Pirates were left with ...

Another fresh bottom at 13 games under .500.

A losing streak extended to a season-high five.

Faces even longer than the previous night, when the Angels blew them out, 10-1.

"It's frustrating," Capps said. "With the way we've been playing, this would have been nice."

"One thing's for sure," reliever John Grabow said. "The only way it can go is up."

That surely is true of the offense.

Tom Gorzelanny, as usual, pitched well enough to win by limiting Los Angeles to three runs in six innings for his 11th quality start in 16 outings.

Masumi Kuwata, Grabow and Capps held the Angels scoreless for three more innings.

And all that was asked of the Pirates' offense was to -- repeat after us -- do something, anything with another struggling starter.

Los Angeles' Bartolo Colon entered with a 6.17 ERA and had been rocked in his past five outings for 31 runs and an eye-popping 11 home runs.

The Pirates' output?

Seven hits and four walks resulted in 11 baserunners in Colon's six innings, but that amounted to two runs.

Most maddening -- at the time, anyway -- was the fifth inning.

Bases were loaded with nobody out, and Jason Bay came to the plate with the Pirates down, 2-0. But Bay looked at all four pitches Colon threw, the final three for strikes.

LaRoche worked a nine-pitch walk for one run, but Nady bounced into a 1-6-3 double play.

"We got a walk out of a great opportunity," manager Jim Tracy called it.

There would be another.

First, Los Angeles pulled ahead, 3-1, in the bottom half, and the Pirates answered in the sixth on Jack Wilson's two-out RBI single.

They again loaded the bases in the seventh, all after two outs, against the Angels' bullpen. But newcomer Josh Phelps, who singled in his first two at-bats, watched all three of Scot Shields' pitches -- all fastballs -- zip right by him for strikes.

"We had a number of opportunities," Tracy said. "And we were just able to peck here and there."

The pecking is no aberration. The Pirates have just eight extra-base hits -- only a Jose Castillo double yesterday -- and one home run in the first six games of this trip.

Still, they had another chance, this right after Nady's clutch hit in the ninth had handed Rodriguez just his second blown save in 24 opportunities.

Nady stole second, despite still being bugged by that tight hamstring, and Ryan Doumit drew a walk. But Phelps fanned again on three pitches, this time swinging under a 93-mph fastball at eye level.

Capps whisked 1-2-3 through the Los Angeles ninth and got the first out of the 10th. But he fell behind in the count, 3-1, to Howie Kendrick and decided to go right at him with a fastball.

"What I don't want to do is put the winning run on base with a walk," Capps said.

Kendrick found another way, drilling the ball off the fence in left-center for a double.

Kendry Morales was intentionally walked, and Capps got a popup from pinch-hitter Gary Matthews Jr. for the second out.

But Aybar sent Capps' 1-0 fastball over the short right-field fence on a bounce for the winning RBI. It was scored a single because it ended the game.

It was, remarkably, the Pirates' 10th loss in the opponent's final at-bat.

"Unfortunately, we've been on this side too many times," Nady said. "We've got to figure out what it means, why we're not getting it done."

A few of the Pirates had discussed calling a players-only meeting for the morning, but that was scrapped, one veteran said, in favor of simply trying to win the game.

Which they nearly did.

"We faced one of the best teams in baseball, and they proved it," second baseman Freddy Sanchez said. "But two of these three games went to extra innings, and this one was right there. We can't hang our heads, or it will only get worse."

"You can't get down," Gorzelanny said. "We've got to keep fighting."

The Pirates finished interleague play 5-10, including 1-8 in American League parks.