On a cold, dreary night at near-empty Turner Field, the Braves lost oft-injured starting pitcher Mike Hampton before the game even began, then fell behind against the lowly Pirates by two runs after four innings.

They had nowhere to go but up, and the Braves did -- but only briefly.

They came alive with a three-run sixth inning, but blew the lead and lost 4-3 in 10 innings in a game that featured an ending almost as unusual as its beginning.

Braves manager Bobby Cox used a rare form of pitching change in the 10th inning, and the move backfired when Chris Resop gave up a two-out single to new Braves nemesis Xavier Nady that drove in the winning run.

"Tough losing those one-run ballgames -- they catch up with you in the end," Resop said after the Braves fell to 1-3 to begin the season, all three of the losses by one run, including two in the series with Pittsburgh.

Resop walked two of the first three batters in the 10th inning, and one advanced to third on a passed ball, before Cox brought in left-hander Royce Ring to face Adam LaRoche, who struck out.

Resop was sent to replace Matt Diaz in left field when Ring entered the game, so that Cox could then bring Resop back to pitch after the LaRoche at-bat. The right-hander returned to the mound to race Nady, who drove in the go-ahead run with his sixth hit and seventh RBI of the three-game series.

"Resop was an outfielder [at the beginning of his minor-league career], so it was no big deal," Cox said of the pitching move, the time a major-league pitcher went from mound to outfield to mound in the same inning since 1990.

Cox said he made the move because he wanted Resop to be available to come back and pitch beyond the 10th inning, if necessary, so that reliever Peter Moylan could be assured of having a night off after pitching in each of the first three games of the season.

The Braves lost their season opener at Washington on Sunday and dropped two of three in the series against Pittsburgh, not the results they wanted entering a weekend series with the rival New York Mets that starts tonight at Turner Field. The Mets (2-1) were off Thursday.

Hampton was scratched after straining the left pectoral muscle in his chest warming up for what would have been his first major-league game in 31 1/2 months. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list after the game.

Emergency starter Jeff Bennett gave up two runs in four innings, and the Braves didn't mount much of a scoring threat through five innings against Pirates left-hander Zach Duke.

But after sending no more than five batters to the plate in any of those innings, the Braves batted around in the three-run sixth. They started the inning with singles from Chipper Jones, Jeff Francoeur, Matt Diaz and Corky Miller in a six-batter span.

Matt Diaz kept the inning alive with a hard takeout slide at second base to prevent a would-be double play, and Miller followed with a bloop single to left that drove in the tying run.

"It was definitely a weird night," said Diaz, the left fielder who left the game so that Resop could stay in during the odd pitching change. Gregor Blanco replaced Resop in left after the switch.

"I'm sure it was weird for them [Pirates], too, visualizing facing Hampton and then getting Bennett," Diaz said. "It was definitely an encouraging sign to show how deep our pitching staff can be. We just need to score more that three runs in that situation to help out.

The Braves made things interesting in the bottom of the 10th when Mark Kotsay tripled off the center-field wall with two out, but pinch-hitter Brian McCann grounded out to first to end the game.