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
Pittsburgh | Minnesota | |
Trevor Cahill | Player | Michael Pineda |
Win | W/L | Loss |
6.0 | IP | 4.1 |
2 | Strikeouts | 5 |
2 | Hits | 6 |
1.50 | ERA | 8.31 |
Pittsburgh | Minnesota | |
Michael Perez | Player | Jake Cave |
3 | Hits | 2 |
3 | RBI | 1 |
1 | HR | 0 |
7 | TB | 4 |
1.000 | Avg | .667 |
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 |