MILWAUKEE -- As if the Pirates weren’t already stumbling toward the finish line of the season, they lost another player to an injury on Saturday night at Miller Park.

Catcher Elias Díaz limped off the field with head athletic trainer Bryan Housand during the fourth inning of the Pirates’ 10-1 loss to the Brewers, after twisting his right knee while trying to corral a low curveball from starter James Marvel.

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“I’m able to walk,” said Díaz, who will be examined on Sunday. Standing at his locker after Saturday’s game, the catcher said he felt “not normal, but I feel OK.”

Saturday was the Pirates’ eighth straight defeat, giving them four losing streaks of at least eight games this year. It also clinched their first 90-loss season since they endured seven straight from 2005-11.

It was the 31st time this season that the Pirates allowed at least 10 runs in a game, the most by any team since the 1999 Rockies. They have been outscored, 83-23, during their current losing skid. Only the rebuilding Tigers and Marlins have a worse second-half record than Pittsburgh’s 21-45 mark.

The Pirates have been short-handed during this stretch, which is part of the reason they’ve scored one run or been shut out in five of their last seven games. They’re playing without Josh Bell and Starling Marte. Veteran outfielder Melky Cabrera is unavailable due to an unspecified injury. Their pitching staff has been decimated by injuries most of the season.

Now, they might enter the final week of the season without Díaz, who was hoping for a strong finish to a mostly disappointing season following his breakout 2018 campaign.

Díaz remained on the ground for a few minutes after Marvel’s 3-1 pitch to Trent Grisham, which resulted in a run scoring. The catcher was able to stand with some assistance from Housand, and he appeared to be walking more comfortably as he entered the dugout. The Pirates offered no specifics regarding his status, however, when they announced only that he sustained a “right knee injury.”

“When I tried to catch the pitch, I reached for the ball, and my foot got stuck,” Díaz said, “and my knee went and, like, turned.”

Catcher Steven Baron replaced the injured Díaz behind the plate, and he’ll be available off the bench on Sunday if anything happens to starting catcher Jacob Stallings.

Díaz’s injury ended a strange sequence of events in the fourth inning. He and Marvel, working together for the second straight start, appeared to be out of sync most of the night, with Marvel repeatedly shaking off his catcher. It came to a head during Grisham’s long plate appearance with the bases loaded and one out.

“There in that last inning, we had a few issues. That’s entirely my fault. I take ownership of that stuff pregame,” Marvel said. “We had numerous conversations about it. That’s something we prepare for. I’m the guy with the ball in my hand, and nothing starts until I deliver a pitch. That’s completely my responsibility. Any time there’s a cross-up or multiple cross-ups, even though this is only my third start, that’s something I can’t allow to happen. That falls squarely on my shoulders.”

About 2 1/2 minutes passed between Marvel’s last pitch to Travis Shaw and his first pitch to Grisham, as they called time at several points and eventually needed a mound visit between Marvel and Díaz. As they cycled through signs, Díaz consulted the wristband on his left arm while Marvel appeared to check a sheet of paper tucked in his pocket.

“The game slowed to a crawl. We sucked the energy right out of the stadium, unfortunately,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “We were going to the card, trying to do the right thing, but the pace just slowed down. We weren’t connecting.”

Marvel was lifted after throwing 77 pitches, and was relieved by right-hander Parker Markel. Marvel surrendered five runs on six hits and two walks while striking out three over 3 1/3 innings in his third Major League start. Two of those runs scored on a homer by rookie Keston Hiura, whose first-inning error allowed the Pirates to score their lone run of the night.

After the homer, Marvel retired seven of the next nine hitters he faced heading into the fourth. He ran into trouble with a hit batter sandwiched between two ground-ball singles, then he walked Shaw and Grisham.

“Those ground balls get through, then it kind of puts us behind the eight ball for the whole inning,” Marvel said. “I still felt good. I still felt like I was executing good pitches.”

Pittsburgh’s problematic middle relief corps took over from there. Markel finished the fourth inning. Chris Stratton gave up a run in the fifth. Alex McRae allowed four runs, two on a sixth-inning double by Ryan Braun and two more in the seventh on a homer by Grisham.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee starter Zach Davies and five relievers combined to allow only seven baserunners.

“It’s just a different type of game that they play, and they’ve got multiple bats out there [on the bench] to use to try to blow up a situation,” Hurdle said. “It’s September baseball, that’s what it is, so why not?”