PITTSBURGH -- For the Pirates, the first 7 1/3 innings of Friday night’s contest were, in the words of manager Derek Shelton, “damn near scripted exactly how we had it.” The Marlins, fighting for their playoff lives, flipped that script rapidly and inched a step closer to securing the final NL Wild Card spot.

Colin Selby was unable to record a single out in the eighth inning, allowing four earned runs that proved to be the difference as the Pirates fell to the Marlins, 4-3, at PNC Park.

“Couldn't even get two outs to help the team win,” Selby said. “Competing their [butt] off the entire time, pitching was good up to that point. Hitters were putting together good ABs, scoring runs. I have to do my job there.”

Prior to the eighth inning, the Pirates’ use of a bullpen game, a strategy Shelton and company had not employed since July 9, worked to perfection.

Osvaldo Bido, in his first appearance in the Majors since Aug. 26, began the evening with a pair of scoreless frames. Hunter Stratton pitched a scoreless third and fourth. Kyle Nicolas pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth with three strikeouts, the best outing of his young Major League career. Ryan Borucki, who hasn’t allowed an earned run since Aug. 18, continued his scoreless streak and retired all four batters he faced.

“The first … four guys pitched exactly the way we wanted to,” Shelton said.

The Pirates didn’t generate much on offense through seven innings, and would end up going 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Through seven innings, though, three runs appeared to be plenty given how Bido, Stratton, Nicolas and Borucki had stifled Miami’s offense.

The Marlins had totaled six baserunners -- one walk, five hits -- by the time Selby entered the ballgame, but it was then that the Marlins’ offense found life.

Garrett Hampson and Luis Arraez hit back-to-back singles, then Jorge Soler drew a walk to load the bases. Former Pirate Josh Bell smashed Selby’s 1-2 curveball off the Roberto Clemente Wall, cutting the Pirates’ lead from 3-0 to 3-2. Jake Burger followed up Bell with an RBI single to left field, tying the game and ending Selby’s evening.

Shelton went to Carmen Mlodzinski to record the frame’s final two outs. Shelton was hoping to avoid using Mlodzinski since the right-hander pitched on Thursday, but Miami’s offense forced Pittsburgh’s skipper to summon his reliable rookie.

Mlodzinski recorded an out on the second pitch he threw, getting Jazz Chisholm Jr. to fly out to deep center field -- easily far enough for Yuli Gurriel, pinch-running for Bell, to tag from third base and score the go-ahead run.

“We got in a situation where we had to use [Mlodzinski] just because of the fact that we had kind of gone through everybody else,” Shelton said. “And then we got to the point where we had to make sure that we kept the game where it was at.”

The Pirates still had two innings to work with to tie the ballgame, but David Robertson pitched a scoreless eighth and Tanner Scott worked a scoreless ninth to hand Pittsburgh a bitter loss.

“Even if it’s a bad night, we can try to learn,” said Endy Rodríguez, who had a walk, an RBI and two hits. “Find what as a team we were doing bad, and tomorrow do it better.”