MIAMI -- The Pirates did exactly enough, it seemed, to lose to the Florida Marlins, 5-3, tonight at Land Shark Stadium.

Zach Duke allowed four runs, three earned, along with seven hits, three walks and a critical wild pitch over six innings.

The offense rallied at various points, but never caught up.

And Florida closer Dan Meyer closed the door with a scoreless ninth.

Florida burst to a 2-0 lead in the first when Hanley Ramirez powered Duke's first-pitch sinker -- just 81 mph with little movement -- high into the empty seats above left-center. That was preceded by first baseman Adam LaRoche dropping Duke's toss for what should have been a leadoff groundout by Emilio Bonifacio.

The Marlins added a third run in the fourth on Ronny Paulino's run-producing double play before the Pirates began to chip back.

Andy LaRoche slugged the first pitch of the fifth for his fourth home run, marking the first hit off Florida starter Andrew Miller.

The next inning, Andrew McCutchen singled, advanced on a groundout and sped home on Delwyn Young's liner into center that cut the Marlins' lead to 3-2.

Duke gave the two-run edge right back: With bases loaded and his mound counterpart in the box, he and catcher Robinzon Diaz elected to open the at-bat with four consecutive sliders, always a risk with a runner on third. That included the fourth offering, with an 0-2 count, that hit the dirt and bounced away from Diaz for a run-scoring wild pitch.

Garrett Jones homered for the second time in his four games since being promoted to pull the Pirates within 4-3, but Florida answered again in the bottom half: Bonifacio tripled off Evan Meek and scored on a groundout.