ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- On the surface, it looked like another awful outing for Matt Morris.

In reality, his showing in the Pirates' 13-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays this afternoon at Progress Energy Park probably was something else.

"Unreal," Morris said. "That's the best I've felt all spring, and ... well, it's all about the results, I guess."

"I thought Matt threw much, much better than it shows," manager John Russell said.

Morris, who entered with a 9.00 ERA, had another ignominious line with eight runs, 10 hits and a walk in falling one out short of his six scheduled innings. That includes a solo home run by Eric Hinske in the second and a three-run shot by Carlos Pena in the fifth.

But a closer look at the latter shows that it was not nearly that bad: Akinori Iwamura put down a perfect bunt to initiate that rally and nearly was thrown out by third baseman Jose Bautista. Next, Carl Crawford's grounder to second base was booted by Luis Rivas. Finally, Pena's high fly to left appeared to be shallow enough that Jason Bay initially stood still. It was only after the 25-mph winds carried it that Bay watched it sail over the fence.

"Can of corn," Bay called the ball off the bat.

Hinske's ball prompted much the same reaction, a last-second retreat, from center fielder Nyjer Morgan.

The sixth was no less unkind to Morris: Hinske dropped a single into right and, after a groundout, Shawn Riggans' popup in front of home plate plopped into fair territory when Ronny Paulino lost it in the sun. Next, Jason Bartlett's bunt to first resulted in an RBI single when Mientkiewicz had no one covering the bag. Rivas had gone to second on a steal attempt.

As the final blow, Crawford's soft liner to right fell inches inside the line for a two-run double. That prompted manager John Russell to lift Morris.

Overall, Morris showed far better command of all pitches, notably a downward fastball, best evidenced by plenty of ground balls.

"He was hitting his spots, inside and outside," Russell said. "In that way, I thought it was a nice outing."

"The velocity was there, the ball was coming out of my hand, and everything felt right," Morris said. "I want the results to be there. Don't get me wrong. I want everyone to know there's nothing to be worried about."

Morris has one more start, in the spring finale Saturday.

John Grabow relieved Morris and stranded Crawford at third by getting Pena to swing over a third-strike slider. That was his only batter.

Franquelis Osoria followed and finally lost his 0.00 ERA ... in a huge way.

Tampa Bay opened the seventh inning with three consecutive singles off him, one more than Osoria had allowed to his first 16 batters this spring, and scored five times to take a 13-2 lead. That included a two-run home run by Reid Brignac.

"Not every game can be good," Osoria said, managing a small smile.

The afternoon was even more forgettable for Paulino, who, in addition to the dropped popup, made two poor throws: One came on a steal attempt of third that should have been a routine out, the other on an attempted 5-2-3 double play with the bases loaded. Paulino's throw to first sailed into right field and gave up two runs.

The Pirates scored twice in the opening inning, Morgan leading off with a single and coming around on Jack Wilson's triple. There would be no more offense from the regular lineup, although bench man Chris Gomez contributed a two-run single in the eighth.

Morgan later doubled, each of his hits going to right field. That is where hitting coach Don Long has been instructing him to take the ball, but Morgan's head has been moving too much during his swing, and his rhythm was out of whack.

"Felt a lot better," Morgan said.

The Pirates are 9-16 in Grapefruit League play.

Tomorrow, Ian Snell will start against the Minnesota Twins' Kevin Slowey, 1:05 p.m. in Bradenton, Fla.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.