Ohlie KO'ed, Bucs Dropped 8-5

Ohlie took a step forward in his last outing, but boy, did he ever backtrack yesterday afternoon. He got six D-Backs out, giving up seven runs on seven hits with a pair of walks and a hit batter.

It started in the first, when Arizona scored three times. Not only did the D-Backs rattle four opening frame hits, but caught Ohlendorf napping on the mound and ran a pair of successful double steals.

The Bucs cut into the lead thanks to a solo homer by Ryan Ludwick in the second. But in the third, the wheels came off for good.

Jared Hughes didn't help the cause a whole lot in the third after Ohlendorf gave up three knocks and a free pass. He inherited a bases-jammed, no out pickle, and two hits and a walk later, it was 8-1 Snakes.

Danny Moskos, D-Mac, Evan Meek and Chris Resop threw two-hit ball over the final five innings to give the attack a chance to chip away.

Derrek Lee drove in a pair with a single and 450' homer as he continues to build his free-agent value. Jason Jaramillo doubled in a run, and a wild pitch plated another. The Pirates actually had a chance to make a game of it with two away in the eighth, but Dewey bounced out with runners on second and third. Pittsburgh made the final score respectable but in the end fell short for the tenth time in the last 13 games, 8-5.

As for Ohlie, he looks like a lock to be a non-tender candidate during the offseason. The FO can't be faulted for bypassing arbitration as he's guaranteed a minimum of $1.6M through the process in 2012, and so we're guessing he'll join Lee looking for a 2012 deal on the market.

The Bucs are off today and take on the Reds Friday. Jeff Locke matches up against Edison Volquez in Pittsburgh as the season winds down to its last week.

• The 2011 attendance will finish as fourth highest in franchise history. Pittsburgh has drawn 1,850,651 fans so far, and the current fourth-place mark for season attendance is 1,866,713 with a three-game set coming up Friday against Cincy. 
• The Pirates have six games left and 69 wins. We took a trip on the web way-back machine to check out the pre-season picks, and most pundits pegged this season's club as a 70-75 win group.   Of course, most thought they'd improve as the season progressed, not back track. Ah, hindsight...