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MILWAUKEE -- Lastings Milledge lost a ball in the lights, James McDonald lost another potentially uplifting start, and the Pirates lost a chance at a rare three-game winning streak in falling to the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-2, Friday night at Miller Park.
And, yes, a three-game winning streak would have been plenty rare, silly as that might sound.
Not since June 30-July 2, with a victory against the Chicago Cubs and two against the Philadelphia Phillies, had the Pirates won three in a row. They have done so only four times all season, and their next four-game winning streak will be the first.
How does that happen?
Try this ...
McDonald blanked Milwaukee through five on a solitary infield single, he was on his way to a total of seven strikeouts, and he took a 2-1 lead into the seventh inning.
"He pitched phenomenally," Milledge would say of McDonald. "I just wish I could have made the play. Those plays are expected. I make a lot of good plays out there ... it's kind of disappointing."
Game: Pirates vs. Milwaukee Brewers, 7:10 p.m., Miller Park.
TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7).
Pitching: LHP Zach Duke (6-12, 5.10) vs. LHP Chris Capuano (2-2, 3.72).
Key matchup: Milwaukee's Ryan Braun is a .412 hitter against Duke, 7 for 17 with two home runs and two walks.
Of note: Four of the Pirates' seven games this season at Miller Park have been decided in the final inning, each team winning twice.
With two aboard and one out, the Brewers' Alcides Escobar lifted a liner toward right. Milledge clearly misjudged it off the bat, breaking to his right as the ball's trajectory was over his head. By the time he backtracked -- literally, running backward -- the ball sailed over his glove. Milledge then squinted and raised his hand to demonstrate difficulty with the lights.
Two runs scored, and what should have been a second out with the runners frozen instead was a 3-2 lead for Milwaukee.
Manager John Russell did little to hide his displeasure afterward.
Asked if the lights hindered Milledge, Russell replied, "He just misplayed it. It ended up really hurting."
Sure did. An RBI single by Jonathan Lucroy -- a bloop to center over a drawn-in infield -- and another single chased McDonald. His replacement, Chris Resop, allowed consecutive doubles by Corey Hart and Ryan Braun for three more runs, and a smooth one-run lead suddenly was a 7-2 deficit.
That is how teams go two months at a time without a three-game winning streak.
The lights that would have given Milledge trouble are attached to the roof of the very tall stadium, and Escobar's laser never found much altitude. Milledge recalled having the lights distract him only at the end of the play, and he accepted full responsibility.
"That's a play that I make, in my back pocket, every day of the week," Milledge said. "Unfortunately, I didn't, and it cost us big."
Asked if he lost it even before the lights, Milledge replied, "No, I made a good break on it. It was tailing a little bit, but I put my head down and adjusted myself. Then, I looked back up and lost it. That's why I turned the wrong way."
And so, McDonald's line wound up at six runs and seven hits over 6 1/3 innings, his record falling to 2-3 since being acquired July 31 from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Octavio Dotel trade.
"James threw the ball really well," Russell said. "He did what he needed to do. The only negative I saw was the leadoff walk."
That was the five-pitch walk to Prince Fielder that opened the seventh.
"Otherwise," Russell continued, "if we make that play in right field, things could be different."
Russell has been stressing to his players for the past week to "get off the result," as he related in the afternoon. "We've got to really focus on preparation and the process, how you're going to approach an at-bat or an inning."
McDonald appeared to take that message to heart after this one.
"I felt good, like I made good pitches, had good stuff," he said. "But there are times when you have great stuff and you don't win. We'll get 'em next time."
The Pirates had taken a 2-0 lead through five: Milledge doubled in the second and scored on Ronny Cedeno's single, and Chris Snyder homered in the fifth, his 12th of the season, off Milwaukee starter Chris Narveson.
It was quite a dip from there to the finish: In the ninth, the defense had a chance for the easiest of 4-6-3 double plays, but Cedeno's throw sailed well past first. When Garrett Jones collected the carom off the camera-well railing, he had an easy out at second, but his throw bounced past Cedeno, the cumulative effect soliciting loud laughter from the crowd of 32,130.
The Pirates' worst season in a half-century is now 15 losses shy of 100 at 43-85. That includes losses in the past 11 road games.
Colin Dunlap's blog on the Pirates is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.
