NEW YORK -- Paul Maholm was charged with seven runs in five innings, the offense continued its immense struggles, and the Pirates lost their seventh in a row, 10-1 to the New York Mets this afternoon at Citi Field.

The Pirates have lost 11 of 12.

"It's frustrating," outfielder Nyjer Morgan said. "Guys are still confident, but it's hard going through this. We have to get something going."

Maholm gave up 10 hits, all but one of them a single, in falling to 3-1. He did have one stunning highlight, though, in hitting his first career home run, an impressive drive to right field off John Maine in the fifth inning that traveled nearly 400 feet.

It was the Pirates' first home run by a pitcher since Matt Morris did it Aug. 4, 2007. And, as per Maholm's recollection, it was his first since 1998, when he was a junior at Germantown High School in Tennessee.

"I can't even hit 'em in batting practice," Maholm said. "I'm going to have to have someone teach me a trot."

The rest of the team totaled four hits, notably two doubles by Andy LaRoche, and the Pirates' run total during this losing streak is 17.

What will it take to wake up the bats?

"If you can figure it out, let me know," manager John Russell said. "We've got to start hitting. Be aggressive. Just stay after it. That's all we can do. We can't sit around and feel sorry for ourselves. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and get after it tomorrow."

Two stand out: Adam LaRoche and Brandon Moss, the Nos. 4 and 5 hitters in Russell's lineup, each went 0 for 4. LaRoche is in a 1-for-24 slump, Moss 0-for-14.

Moss looks especially lost at the plate.

"I might have seen one breaking ball all day. Nothing but fastballs. And I'm a dead-fastball hitter, and all I could do was foul them back," Moss said. "I know I'm late with the swing, but I don't know how to get early. I just know that I've got to get it going."

Is he pressing?

"I'm pressing, but who wouldn't be if they were hitting .180?"

Moss actually is down to .176 now.

New York dinked its way to a 6-0 lead off Maholm.

In the first, Jose Reyes singled under the backhand attempt of shortstop Ramon Vazquez -- a ball Vazquez should have gloved -- took second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored on Luis Castillo's single.

The Mets added five in a maddening fourth, thanks to six singles, mostly bloops or bleeders: David Wright, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Tatis had RBIs as the cycle spun around the bases, and Jose Reyes' two-out roller up the middle brought two more.

"They had a lot of those today," Russell said of the Mets. "They're a good-hitting team, and you'll have that. I thought Paul did fine. He had that one inning where he couldn't get the ball hit at somebody."

"I guess it's a day where you make your pitches and they find holes," Maholm said. "They're on a winning streak, and we're on a losing streak, and that's just how it falls."

The Mets have won six in a row.

The dinking ended in the fifth when Carlos Beltran crushed Maholm's 1-1 fastball into the second level beyond left field, putting New York ahead, 7-0.

"The only hard-hit ball they had off me all day," Maholm said. "And it was one of the only mistakes I made."

Evan Meek and John Grabow gave up the rest of the Mets' runs.

New York, which has outscored the Pirates, 17-4, so far, will go for the three-game sweep tomorrow.