The Twins and Pirates managed to pack two blowouts and a nailbiter into the same nine-inning game, trading blows in a contest that saw both teams score six unanswered runs, culminating in a 10-9 slugfest that produced 27 total hits.
For all the world, it looked like another Chicago-esque runaway early. The Pirates struck first on a Spencer Horwitz homer, then added two more bombs in a six-run second inning, with Jake Mangum and Oneil Cruz going yard on either side of a two-run Nick Gonzales single.
The Twins had plated their first score of the game on a Victor Caratini double in the top half of the inning, but the 7-1 score looked like it would hold up as an early, decisive rout of Bailey Ober.
But not so fast! The Twins, in a rare moment of remembering that baseball games are nine innings long, got back to work undeterred. Kody Clemens tripled home Byron Buxton in the third inning, and then it was Minnesota’s turn for a crooked number off Pittsburgh starter Mitch Keller.
Entering the top of the fourth still down 7-2, the Twins got two-run doubles from both Tristan Gray and Josh Bell to shave the lead to 7-6, then had Clemens deliver a two-out laser to right, singling home Bell to tie the game at 7 apiece.
Both starters today exited with skewed pitching lines; Keller’s read four innings, with seven earned runs allowed on 10 hits. Ober, who coughed up three homers among a dozen hits total, exited after 4.2 with eight runs allowed, as Pittsburgh would pull back in front with a Mangum single in the home fifth.
Needing to keep the score tight after a topsy-turvy first half, the Twins turned to Kody Funderburk to clean up the middle innings, but the lefty was unable to keep it a one-run game. The Buccos added two in the bottom of the seventh, with RBIs coming from Jared Triolo and Bryan Reynolds that made it a 10-7 contest.
Not done yet, the Twins put together a lengthy rally in the eighth, loading the bases with one out and creating an opportunity for Brooks Lee to bring Minnesota’s eighth run home with an RBI walk. It was a one-run game again after Josh Bell chopped a grounder to first that scored Ryan Kreidler, but Clemens’ sharp ground ball to the right side was denied by Tyler Callihan, who made a sure-handed 4-3 putout to end the threat.
Despite a base on balls worked in a solid one-out at-bat by Caratini vs. Gregory Soto, a pair of heartbreaking warning-track flyouts ended the game, with the Pirates able to hold on 10-9 after a three-hour shootout.
Attempting to avoid a sweep, and desperate to get the taste of the end of May out of their mouths, the Twins will return tomorrow looking to salvage one win at PNC.
See you then!
STUDS:
DH Byron Buxton (2-for-4, 2 R, BB)
CF/LF Kody Clemens (3-for-5, R, 2 RBI, 2B, 3B)
2B Luke Keaschall (3-for-5, 2 R)
DUDS:
SP Bailey Ober (4.2 IP, 12 H, 8 R, 7 ER, BB, 3 K, 3 HR)
RP Kody Funderburk (1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB)
RF Austin Martin (0-for-5, 2 K)
