PITTSBURGH -- Whenever the Pirates look back on this season to evaluate what went right and wrong, searching for silver linings and reasons why their hopes of contention never materialized, they’ll be able to find most of it distilled into the three hours and 38 minutes they played Thursday night at PNC Park.

The lineup was productive enough, putting up five runs in the first then making it interesting in the ninth, but their pitching and defense didn’t hold up their end of the bargain in a 10-7 loss.

• Box score

The star performers on Thursday were the same as they’ve been most of the season, too: Bryan Reynolds and Josh Bell.

Reynolds hit two home runs -- left-handed in the first inning off starter Elieser Hernandez, then right-handed in the ninth against reliever Jarlin Garcia -- and became the third Pirates player to homer from both sides of the plate in the same game. Bobby Bonilla did it twice, and Dale Sveum was the last Pirate to accomplish the feat on Aug. 18, 1999, when Reynolds was 4 years old.

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“It’s a cool accomplishment,” Reynolds said. “I wish we would’ve won the game. But that’s a cool accomplishment.”

There have been plenty of nights that Bell could have said the same, including this one. The All-Star first baseman launched his 36th homer of the season in the ninth, nudging his RBI total to 112 and putting him within striking distance of the Bucs’ first 40-homer campaign since Willie Stargell in 1973.

Reynolds couldn’t remember ever going deep from both sides of the plate in the same game at any level. It’s been a season full of unique accomplishments for the National League batting title and NL Rookie of the Year Award candidate, though his star turn hasn’t stopped the Pirates’ team-wide tailspin.

“You’re getting to watch a really special young player develop and grow and do some significant things in the game of baseball at the highest level,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “I hope people don’t lose sight of that based on what else is going on with the team. The team’s out there. We’re trying to win games.”

But the problems that plagued Pittsburgh on Thursday night were also familiar.

The starting pitching wasn’t good enough, as Dario Agrazal allowed nine hits and two walks with only one strikeout in 4 1/3 innings. The Pirates fell to 23-55 on the year when their starter doesn’t complete six innings. It was a bittersweet outing for the rookie right-hander, as he was able to pitch in front of his parents -- who made the trip from Panama to Pittsburgh -- for the first time in his professional career.

“Unfortunately, the results didn’t come out our way, but I was out there giving my best, executing the best that I could,” Agrazal said through interpreter Mike Gonzalez. “There’s just things that happen in the game. Sometimes, some games just slip away from you.”

The Pirates’ middle-relief corps couldn’t keep a close game close, as Geoff Hartlieb gave up two runs in the sixth and Parker Markel allowed two more in the eighth. Then their defense let them down, committing two errors that led to one of the Marlins’ four runs in the fifth inning. Colin Moran booted a hard grounder, then shortstop Kevin Newman made a slick recovery and fired the ball home to catcher Elias Diaz, who dropped the ball.

The Bucs entered the night with the Majors’ lowest defensive efficiency ratio and fourth-worst fielding percentage. The series of miscues, which included poor decisions in the field by Agrazal and Bell, is particularly perplexing in light of the additional full-squad defensive work Pittsburgh has been doing before games over the past few weeks.

“Giving anybody extra outs does not help,” Hurdle said, “and we’ve done more than our fair share of it.”

In the end, the Pirates lost for the 79th time this season and the 34th time in 51 games since the All-Star break. It was the 25th time in 140 games this year that Pittsburgh’s pitching staff allowed at least 10 runs and the 15th time this season that they allowed at least 15 hits.

The Bucs have bounced back a bit, winning nine of their past 13 games, but they followed up a four-game sweep of the Rockies at Coors Field by dropping a series against the Marlins. If not for their ninth-inning comeback on Wednesday night, Pittsburgh would have been swept at home by the club with the NL's worst record.

“You’ve got to meet the demands of the game,” Hurdle said. “When you don’t meet the demands of the game, you put yourself in a position to lose ballgames.”