Matt Morris was tagged for eight runs in four innings, and the Pirates lost their sixth in a row, 10-4, to the Florida Marlins tonight at PNC Park.

Morris' numbers: 0-3 record, 9.15 ERA.

Florida struck for four in the second inning, half that on Hanley Ramirez's two-run liner into the left-field bleachers off a hanging curve.

The Pirates pulled within 4-2 in the bottom half on two-out RBI singles by Ronny Paulino and Morris, but that was wiped away in the Marlins' next official at-bat: Jeremy Hermida was hit by a pitch to lead off the third, and Willingham lofted a fastball - just 83 mph, even on PNC's generous radar gun - into the bleachers to make it 6-2.

He exited with the Pirates down, 8-2, and was booed for most of his final two innings by a paid crowd of 8,444 that looked to be about a quarter of that.

The Pirates' formula through this losing streak, which has dropped them to 7-12 and is threatening to derail yet another season before the first flip of the calendar, has seen all of the starters except Ian Snell dig deep holes, get chased early and watch from the clubhouse monitor as the hitters try in vain to battle back.

Number of starters to top five innings during the streak: One, Snell.

Their cumulative ERA: 6.28, highest in Major League Baseball.

The average number of innings per start: 5 1/3, second-lowest in the league.

"That's part of our reasoning with Morris," Huntington said. "It's not like we've got one weak link in the rotation right now."

The solitary bright spot: Nate McLouth's hitting streak was extended to 18 when he led off the eighth with a single. He is the only player in the majors to hit safely in all of his team's games, but he has a long way to go set the major-league record for a season-opening streak: Willie Keeler's was 44 in 1897 with the Baltimore Orioles.

Also: No errors.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.