What does it take to get a home crowd to boo a guy hurling a no-hitter through five innings?

How about seven walks?

Or a gnawing feeling that it was only a matter of time before implosion?

Whatever it was, the 9,544 on hand at PNC Park tonight had it right: Tom Gorzelanny's most unconventional no-hitter ended one out into the fifth, when he walked the bases loaded and gave up three runs en route to the Pirates' 6-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Pirates had a 1-0 lead after Adam LaRoche's RBI double in the fourth, and Gorzelanny had not allowed a hit to that point.

But there were four walks, so, when he walked mound opponent Joel Pineiro with one out in the St. Louis fifth, the groans began.

When Brendan Ryan and Skip Schumaker were walked, the groans turned to boos, making for an unusual scene given the zero under the Cardinals' "H" marker on the scoreboard.

And when Brian Barton's single brought two runs and Albert Pujols' single another, the volume turned up.

Two outs later, Gorzelanny was done and, once he reached the dugout, angrily punched the back of the bench, then threw a cup of water.

Gorzelanny was pulled after the inning, having thrown just 49 of 94 pitches for strikes. His seven walks were the most of his career and the most by a Pirates pitcher since Oliver Perez had the same number June 23, 2006 in Los Angeles.

His record is at 1-3, his ERA at 8.46, and that walk total now an astounding 22 in 22 1/3 innings. He walked only 68 in 201 2/3 innings all of last season.

Gorzelanny has been on a good-bad alternation since the season started, twice achieving six or more innings, twice failing to last through the third and now this.

"It's just a matter of consistency in the zone," manager John Russell said beforehand. "He needs to challenge hitters with quality pitches, and he needs to have life down in the zone. That's how he pitches when he's effective."

Gorzelanny also relies heavily on that outside changeup against right-handed batters, a pitch that has eluded him of late. To that end, he and pitching coach Jeff Andrews focused on the changeup between starts.

To no avail. More often than not, that pitch sprayed up and well outside.

Phil Dumatrait pitched the next two innings and allowed St. Louis two more runs on six hits, offering yet another sign that he might be the one -- and not Rule 5 draft pick Evan Meek -- living on the fringe in the Pirates' bullpen: Dumatrait has given up 20 hits and 12 walks in 16 2/3 innings of relief, numbers that dwarf his 4.32 ERA in importance to a reliever.

Offensively, the Pirates did little, finishing with six hits, only four during Pineiro's no-sweat seven innings. Their other run came in the ninth, with the game out of hand.

Another negative: Brian Bixler's double-clutch in the third inning brought the Pirates' 25th error, their eighth by shortstops not named Jack Wilson.

And the one positive: Xavier Nady's hitting streak was extended to a career-high 12 with a ninth-inning single.