BRADENTON, Fla. -- Tom Gorzelanny disappointed, Zach Duke dazzled and Andrew McCutchen delivered in the bottom of the ninth inning to bring the Pirates' 8-7 victory against the Toronto Blue Jays this afternoon at McKechnie Field.

Gorzelanny, making his second outing since being briefly shut down by left shoulder soreness, fell two outs short of his scheduled two innings and was charged with five runs in 1 1/3 innings, allowing two hits, two walks and a hit batsman.

Duke, making his first outing since a five-run shelling in his spring debut last week, pitched three scoreless innings and allowed one hit while striking out two.

The Pirates trailed, 7-5, entering the bottom of the ninth but began a rally with Steve Pearce reaching on an error, Doug Mientkiewicz singling to center and Kevin Thompson being hit by a Jean Machi pitch to load the bases.

Brian Bixler hit a sacrifice fly for one run. Jorge Velandia walked to load the bases. McCutchen, hitless in 13 at-bats, slapped a single through the left side to bring home the tying and winning runs.

"Man, that felt great," McCutchen said. "It's going to take me about 30 minutes to get over it."

With that, the Pirates ended a six-game losing streak and are 2-6 in Grapefruit League play.

Gorzelanny's first inning was terrific, with three ground-ball outs on nine pitches.

"I felt good," Gorzelanny said. "It was a really easy inning."

But the second saw the staff's top left-hander struggle front to finish: Vernon Wells doubled off the fence in center, and the next two batters walked. Pitching coach Jeff Andrews visited the mound.

Marco Scutaro's sacrifice fly brought one run, Rod Barajas' infield single another.

When Gorzelanny hit Sal Fasano with his 27th pitch of the inning, manager John Russell took him out.

Jesse Chavez replaced Gorzelanny, and his first-pitch fastball to David Eckstein was crushed beyond the left-field fence for a grand slam and a 6-3 Toronto lead.

"In the second ... I don't know what happened," Gorzelanny said. "I don't know if I was trying to throw too hard or do too much."

He casually but convincingly shrugged off a question about the shoulder.

"Everything's fine. I feel good. I just need to keep building up."

Duke entered in the third inning and put Toronto down 1-2-3.

Barajas lined a one-out double in the fourth, but Duke got a fastball past Fasano and a flyout by Eckstein to left-center that Kevin Thompson did well to track down.

The fifth again was 1-2-3, on just eight pitches.

"It felt pretty good," Duke said. "The main thing was that I was working ahead in the count."

Being aggressive was the focus of some discussions between Duke and Andrews of late.

"Everything felt very natural. It felt like it should."

The Pirates had leaped to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on Freddy Sanchez's RBI single and Pearce's two-run home run, this third of the spring. Pearce pounced on Dustin McGowan's first-pitch fastball and sent it high into the trees beyond left field.

Management has told Pearce he probably will open the year with Class AAA Indianapolis, despite a remarkable 2007 in which he rose three levels to reach Pittsburgh. But Pearce has made clear his intent of playing his way onto the roster this spring, and he is off to a fine start at the plate: 6 for 18 with a triple, four RBIs, a hit batsman and a walk.

The Pirates closed the Blue Jays' lead to 6-5 in the fifth on Sanchez's sacrifice fly and Xavier Nady's first home run of the spring, an opposite-field shot off a Casey Janssen fastball.

Jimmy Barthmaier gave up a run in the sixth.

Damaso Marte, making his spring debut after a fever knocked him out of the early part of camp, had a scoreless seventh that included an infield single and strikeout.

Tomorrow, the Pirates have their first split-squad doubleheader.

In the 1:05 p.m. game against Cincinnati in Sarasota, Fla., John Van Benschoten will start against the Reds' Johnny Cueto. Luis Munoz, Ronald Belisario, Juan Perez, T.J. Beam and Romulo Sanchez will follow.

In the 7:05 nightcap at McKechnie, the first game under lights in the stadium's 85-year history, Paul Maholm will start against the Reds' Bronson Arroyo. Ty Taubenheim, Adam Bernero, Jaret Wright, Brian Rogers and Hector Carrasco will follow

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.