MILWAUKEE -- The Pirates had never won at Miller Park with Zach Duke pitching, but he left with the lead.

They rarely hit three home runs in a game, but Chris Snyder, Jose Tabata and Neil Walker each went deep.

They very rarely hit three-run home runs, and Snyder had one of those.

And yet, all Saturday night, it seemed inevitable Milwaukee still would prevail, which the Brewers did, 8-7, on Lorenzo Cain's walkoff single in the 11th inning off Wil Ledezma.

Yeah, that part of the script stayed intact, too: The Pirates have won just eight times in the past 47 games here.

Ryan Braun opened the 11th by lining a single into right. Prince Fielder bounced sharply to Walker, who failed to scoop it up and was charged with an error. Casey McGehee flied out. Cain made no mistake Ledezma's 1-0 fastball and lashed it into the left-field corner, held to a single only because the game ended.

The Pirates had lost all 10 of Duke's career starts here, and his individual numbers were 0-6 with an 8.29 ERA,but he overcame an ominous start to hold Milwaukee to four runs over 5 1/3 innings and exited with a 6-4 lead. The outburst of three home runs was just the sixth all season. And Snyder's three-run shot in the third inning, which gave the Pirates a 6-2 lead, was just the team's eighth all season, of which Snyder has two.

The Pirates had an early 3-2 lead: Tabata hit his fourth home run on the game's second at-bat, and two more runs came in the second inning when Andrew McCutchen drew a bases-loaded walk and Tabata's infield single pushed across another.

On the latter, Snyder methodically slowed between second base and third to hinder Milwaukee third baseman McGehee's view of the grounder.

The Pirates kept after Chris Capuano, the Brewers' long-struggling left-hander, in the third: Pedro Alvarez singled, and Ronny Cedeno walked before Snyder leveled the flattest of changeups high into the seats above left field to make the lead 6-2.

It was Snyder's 13th home run, second in as many nights.

Fielder and Jonathan Lucroy hit solo home runs off Duke in the third and sixth innings to make it 6-4.

Walker restored the three-run lead in the seventh with his sixth home run, a tall arc to right off reliever Mike McClendon.

But the bullpen gave up three in the bottom half, lowlighted by Alvarez's error: Braun singled off Sean Gallagher, and Fielder homered off Brian Burres, prompting manager John Russell to turn to his third reliever for as many batters in summoning Chan Ho Park. After a single, a forceout and a strikeout, Lucroy's sharp grounder to Alvarez caromed off his glove and into shallow left to tie, 7-7.

The Pirates had a terrific chance to pull ahead in the ninth when Tabata led off with a hustling double, but the inning ended with Ryan Doumit -- who this season has hit three home runs in this ballpark in the ninth off Milwaukee closers -- striking out against the current closer, John Axford.

The Pirates' worst season in a half-century is now 14 losses shy of 100 at 43-86. That includes losses in the past 12 road games.

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