PITTSBURGH _ With the ball en route to, but not yet in, the bushes beyond the center-field fence, Gerrit Cole raised his glove to ask for another. He knew Evan Gattis' second-inning homer would leave the yard without having to look.
That's how his month is going.
"I'm just getting killed," he said, "when I miss."
Wednesday's 5-4 loss to the Houston Astros at PNC Park represented the latest in a string of five subpar starts for Cole. It also concluded a 1-5 homestand, against the Astros and Miami Marlins, two other teams in the hunt for wild-card spots, that followed a 5-1 West Coast road trip. Now, the Pirates (63-61) will play four games in Milwaukee before traveling to Chicago for three against the Cubs.
"We got one tomorrow," said Jordy Mercer, who homered Wednesday. "That's all I got. Can't think ahead. Got one tomorrow."
The Brewers traded Jonathan Lucroy, Will Smith and Jeremy Jeffress, but the quality of the roster hasn't mattered for the Pirates in Miller Park. The Pirates are 17-64 in Milwaukee since 2007 and have lost nine games in a row there, including three at the end of July. Their previous victory at Miller Park was April 15, 2015.
"They've played better than us," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "I know it sounds _ they have. And we're due. That's the way I look at it. The longer you go without winning a game somewhere, the better your chances are to win one. I think we're going to roll in there and get after it. It's our time to do something there."
Then it's on to the Cubs, who are 81-45 after defeating the Padres, 6-3, Wednesday.
"We've got to take it one game at a time," Mercer said. "We can't look ahead because that's when we get in trouble. Start pressing, start doing things, look at standings, do all that stuff. You guys can take care of that stuff. We've got to take it one game at a time."
The likely starter for the first game of that Cubs series Monday will be Cole, who allowed five runs and seven hits in five innings Wednesday and has a 6.07 ERA in five August starts. He has completed the sixth inning in only one of those starts and has given up 41 hits in 262/3 innings.
"I've just been working every start to find a consistency with the delivery, be able to go out there and repeat as many times as I can, find that consistency with the breaking balls," Cole said. "I've been trying to look at approaches and see how I can maybe use my stuff better."
The control is fine _ Cole's only walk Wednesday was intentional _ but the command within the strike zone posed problems. In four August starts entering Wednesday, batters hit .339 against Cole's fastball, compared to .209 in July. They also swung and missed less at his breaking pitches _ 11.2 percent, down from 21.6 percent in July.
"The misfires within the zone, most of them are elevated most of them are middle," Hurdle said.
Four of the seven hits allowed went for extra bases, though one of them, Alex Bregman's fifth-inning double bounced off third base.
"I'm not going to sit here and tell you that, no, I'm just having bad luck," Cole said. "I'm not pitching as well as I'm capable of. At the same time, one bad pitch just seems to be _ I don't get away with it."
Gregory Polanco tripled and drove in two runs for the Pirates. He went 7 for 13 in the series with two doubles, a triple and two homers.
