DENVER -- The Pirates' Yoslan Herrera lasted only 1 2/3 innings and was crushed for seven runs and eight hits in what wound up a 7-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies tonight at Coors Field.

One of every five pitches he threw, 46 in all, resulted in a hit. Five of the 15 batters he faced made outs, and one of those was a sacrifice fly. There also was a hit batsman and a wild pitch/

Small wonder why the Pirates sit at 44-53 for another season low, have lost four in a row, and are well on their way to a 16th consecutive losing season: The ERA of all 10 starters deployed to date is 5.77, worst in Major League Baseball by a monster margin, and those starters have 22 wins in 97 games.

Right. Roughly one of out every five turns, a starter gets a W.

Wait, one more: The eight pitchers the Pirates have promoted from the minors this season have a combined ERA of 8.82.

Not much need for play-by-play in this one when mere sound effects -- the loud cracking of bats -- would suffice, but here is how the early part went ???

The Pirates struck first, but not nearly often enough, against Jorge De La Rosa, owner of a 7.26 ERA. Freddy Sanchez doubled, and Ryan Doumit singled him home. Two more reached to load the bases, but Jose Bautista struck out to end it.

Herrera gave up five runs in the first, two more in the second, and manager John Russell took away the ball before anyone else got hurt. And it marked the 19th time this season Russell has lifted a starter after pitching four innings or less.

T.J. Beam, Marino Salas and Franquelis Osoria got the Pirates the rest of the way without further damage, but that mattered little.

De La Rosa continued through six and held the Pirates to one run while fanning seven. The Pirates' final 13 batters were retired in order, as they have scored just six runs in the first three games since the All-Star break.

Zach Duke, loser in his past two decisions, will try to keep Colorado from the four-game sweep this afternoon.