"One to go.

The Pirates' 8-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds last night at Great American Ball Park very much had that get-this-over-with feel, from Zach Duke uncharacteristically losing his command to the offense swinging wildly at an erratic opposing pitcher to ...

Well, whatever.

Today, the franchise's 123rd season ends, 98 losses after it began, with little more than the mathematical assurance that 100 cannot be achieved.

And it might well be that the official avoidance of 100 with the victory here Friday led to a letdown in this one. The players had spoken in recent days of not wanting to be part of such a distinction and treated the 6-2 stretch that followed like "our playoffs," as center fielder Andrew McCutchen called it.

Manager John Russell sounded appreciative that they found some fuel.

"If you lose more than you win, to me, it doesn't matter," Russell said. "But the guys really kind of pulled together because they didn't want 100 losses. And I think it was a little bit of a motivation factor."

The more far more likely culprit last night, though, was much simpler: Duke lasted only five innings, charged with five runs, six hits and, most striking, five walks. The latter was one shy of his career high.

"Obviously, my fastball command wasn't very good," Duke said.

Three of those walks came in Cincinnati's one-run second, including Scott Rolen's to open the inning.

"I led off with a walk and pitched around a couple guys to try to limit the damage. I was just behind in the count too much."

Duke fell behind 17 of 25 batters, throwing 48 of 87 pitches for strikes.

"He wasn't missing badly, but he wasn't sharp," Russell said. "But Zach had a great year for us."

Duke finished 11-16, clinching the National League lead in losses, with a 4.06 ERA. His more telling numbers, in Russell's view, were his staff-best 213 innings and one a bit off the radar: He averaged 14.4 pitches per inning, third lowest in the league."