Pittsburgh 6, Minnesota 2
When: 2:10 PM ET, Saturday, April 24, 2021
Where: Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Temperature:
40°
Umpires:
Home -
Jeremie Rehak, 1B -
Scott Barry, 2B -
Dan Iassogna, 3B -
Jose Navas
Attendance:
9718
By Field Level Media
Trevor Cahill allowed one run on two hits over six innings and Michael Perez and Kevin Newman each homered as the Pittsburgh Pirates cruised to a 6-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday in Minneapolis.
Perez, who entered the game 0-for-15 on the road, went 3-for-3 with a walk and three RBIs. It was the third three-hit game of his career.
Cahill (1-2) entered the contest with a 9.69 ERA and had allowed seven runs in two of his three previous starts.
On Saturday, Cahill kept the Twins off-balance with a variety of off-speed pitches. He walked two, struck out two and retired the last 13 batters he faced while inducing 11 groundouts.
Michael Pineda (1-1) suffered the loss after allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits and a walk in 4 1/3 innings while striking out five. It was the first time since June 23, 2019 that he allowed five runs in a start.
Jake Cave went 2-for-3 with two doubles, a run scored and an RBI for the Twins, who finished with just three hits.
Pittsburgh took a 3-0 lead in the second inning.
Erik Gonzalez singled with one out, went to third on a bloop double down the left field line by Gregory Polanco and then scored on shortstop Jorge Polanco's throwing error on a Todd Frazier grounder. Perez then followed with a two-run double into the gap in right-center, his first extra-base hit of the season.
The Twins cut it to 3-1 in the bottom of the second inning when Polanco walked, advanced to second on a single by Willians Astudillo and scored on Cave's double to left-center.
The Pirates extended their lead to 5-1 in the fifth on back-to-back homers by Perez and Newman. Perez's blast was a 408-foot drive into the plaza behind the right-field bleachers, while Newman's homer was his first of the season.
Pittsburgh made it 6-1 on a sacrifice fly by Newman in the sixth.
The Twins cut it to 6-2 in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Josh Donaldson, driving in Cave who led off with a double and advanced to third when left fielder Phillip Evans dropped a fly ball hit by Luis Arraez.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Pittsburgh
|
7 |
2 |
15 |
.212 |
12 |
8 |
6 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
Minnesota
|
3 |
0 |
5 |
.100 |
6 |
7 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
2 |