It was a beautiful day for baseball in Pittsburgh, from the sunny skies to the spruced-up stadium to the former greats introduced in the opening ceremony to the military flyover to ...

Oh, yeah, the baseball.

That went not so well for the home side: The Pirates overcame a seven-run deficit but lost to the Chicago Cubs, 10-8, on a botched bit of baserunning in the ninth inning and reliever Evan Meek's wild showing in the 12th -- five walks and two wild pitches framed Aramis Ramirez's decisive sacrifice fly -- this afternoon at PNC Park.

"That's tough," center fielder Nate McLouth said. "To come all the way back like that, you really want to go all the way and win it."

The finish was as frantic as all that came before it.

Start with the bottom of the ninth, when the Pirates were very much in line to win the game ...

Doumit led off by a lining a double off Jon Lieber over the head of Chicago center fielder Reed Johnson, who initially broke forward on the ball, then failed to recover. Brian Bixler ran for Doumit, and he took third on Xavier Nady's deliberate grounder to the right side.

Doug Mientkiewicz was intentionally walked, and Bautista tried a squeeze bunt up the first-base line toward Derrek Lee.

It was a play the Pirates rehearsed often in spring training and executed once successfully last week in Atlanta, but it failed this time. Bixler briefly broke from third, hesitated, then went back. Bautista was tagged by Lee for an easy second out.

Luis Rivas grounded out to end the threat, and Bixler was booed lustily by the overflow crowd of 37,491.

Third base coach Tony Beasley, who put on a signal when that play went well in Atlanta, had no signal on this time. But it is supposed to be understood by the runner that the batter can execute it at his discretion at any time.

Bautista liked the opportunity.

"It's a play that, if he breaks, we get a run out of it," Bautista said. "I don't know what happened on the other end. I couldn't tell you."

"It just kind of caught me off guard," Bixler said. "I didn't really expect it. I just kind of stopped and let the play go as it did."

Manager John Russell pointed out that it was Bixler's second game in the majors, having been promoted from Class AAA Indianapolis yesterday, but he did not excuse the lapse.

"If he takes off right away, it's over," Russell said. "Bixler just froze."

From the other side, Lee acknowledged the game would have ended if Bixler had taken off.

"No question, he would have been safe."

The Pirates were out of arms for the 12th and forced to turn to Meek, the Rule 5 draft pick who has yet to show management he can carry himself in the majors.

Theriot drew a full-count walk to start it, then stole second as Soriano drew a four-pitch walk. Each advanced on a wild pitch. Felix Pie grounded out to first, neither runner moving. Lee was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Ramirez lined a sacrifice fly to right.

A five-pitch walk to Mark DeRosa brought another run.

The Cubs' final line for the inning: Two runs, no hits, three left on base.

Meek was disconsolate afterward, sitting and staring into his stall for nearly a half-hour.

"I want to get back out there tomorrow," he said. "I was just fighting myself out there. Trying too hard. Tomorrow's another day."

The Pirates now are 2-13 in their past 15 home openers, and this was the first time they topped three runs in that span.

"There are a lot of positives to take out of this," Russell said. "This isn't something that's going to get us down. We battled back."

Starter Tom Gorzelanny lasted only 2 1/3 innings and lacked command from the outset, falling behind all but two of his 16 batters and giving up seven runs on six hits and four walks.

Seventy pitches, 36 strikes.

"I take full responsibility for us losing this game," Gorzelanny said. "Absolutely everything was not working for me."

Stunningly, the Pirates came back with five in the runs in the fourth, this despite only two hits that left the infield.

After a quick out, Doumit singled through the right side, and Nady and Mientkiewicz drew walks off Ted Lilly to load the bases. Bautista popped up for the second out. But Rivas and pinch-hitter Chris Gomez followed with infield singles, each accompanied by a Chicago throwing error, and four runs came across.

McLouth's triple off the Clemente Wall brought another, and it was 7-5.

The Cubs squeezed a run out of Franquelis Osoria in the sixth, when Johnson beat out a close play at the plate on a fielder's choice.

But the Pirates took advantage of some wild Chicago relief to score twice in the bottom half.

Bautista drew a Kevin Hart walk, and Rivas singled. Carmen Pigniatello then walked pinch-hitter Nyjer Morgan and McLouth on eight consecutive balls to bring in one run. Bob Howry relieved, and Freddy Sanchez's sacrifice fly brought another.

The Pirates tied in the seventh: Bautista doubled and scored when Morgan's two-out grounder to second was muffed by DeRosa. Bautista needed a sweet hook slide to barely beat DeRosa's throw home.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.