PITTSBURGH - The Baltimore Orioles were still trying to figure out how the Pittsburgh Pirates came back so fast.

Jack Wilson's go-ahead homer followed Daryle Ward's three-run shot in the eighth inning, and the Pirates rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the Orioles 6-5 Tuesday.

The Orioles were cruising with a 5-0 lead behind rookie Hayden Penn after getting four solo homers in five innings off Dave Williams, but Pittsburgh scored twice in the sixth on reliever John Parrish's run-scoring wild pitch and Ward's RBI double.

"You can't just lay down," said Sal Fasano, who homered twice in Baltimore's first loss in four games. "The Pirates are a pretty decent team and they've been playing well lately. Unfortunately, it happened to us."

The comeback came so quickly and so unexpectedly, manager Lee Mazzilli couldn't get reliever Jorge Julio (2-2) out of the game before he turned a 5-2 lead into a 6-5 deficit. Rob Mackowiak singled and Jason Bay walked, and Ward tied it with his 11th homer.

"I made good contact at the right time," said Ward, who drove in four runs. "I'm not saying I was looking to hit a home run, but with him throwing it 98 mph, I'm looking to put good wood on it. And then Jack, he doesn't hit a lot of home runs, but he powered it up, too."

Julio got the next two batters but Wilson, slumping nearly all season and his average in the low .200s, followed with his third homer, hitting Julio's first pitch into the left-field seats.

"He was throwing, he wasn't pitching tonight," Mazzilli said. "His fastball was up, and you can't throw fastballs by fastball hitters in fastball counts. This game's gone on for 100 years, and you just can't do it that way."

The Orioles had been 27-1 when leading after seven innings. The Pirates were 2-21 when trailing after seven.

"They're one of the best teams in baseball and they put five up in a hurry against us," Wilson said. "I just fed off Daryle's homer - he put us back in it. To come back and win this game, it was huge."

It was a jolt to the Orioles, who squandered a big lead, a four-homer game and the chance to get the 20-year-old Penn his first career victory. They also missed out on increasing their AL East lead to five games over the Red Sox, who lost 9-2 in St. Louis.

Instead, Brian Meadows (2-0) pitched out of a bases-loaded jam he created in the eighth for the victory and Jose Mesa finished for his 17th save in 19 opportunities.

Sammy Sosa and Melvin Mora also homered to help give the Orioles a 5-0 lead that looked safe. The Orioles are 18-9 on the road and have yet to lose any of their nine road series, while the Pirates are a major league-worst 13-16 at home. They also were 2-9 in one-run games at home.