The Minnesota Twins broke the game open with a four-run sixth inning and ended the Pittsburgh Pirates' undefeated start with a 7-3 win on Wednesday night at PNC Park.
Miguel Sano had three hits, including a pair of run-scoring singles, and Eduardo Escobar added two hits and two RBIs to help the Twins improve to 3-2 on the season on a night when the game began as snow flurries were still falling.
Pittsburgh, which lost for the first time in 2018 after winning four straight, including a 5-4 victory over the Twins on Monday, squandered an early lead forged by Josh Bell's first-inning, two-out, two-run homer.
Trailing 3-2 in the sixth inning, Minnesota rallied. Brian Dozier walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Ivan Nova, and Sano brought him home with a single to right field. Logan Morrison followed with an RBI double, which prompted a pitching change to Dovydas Neverauskas, who promptly allowed an RBI double to Escobar and an RBI double to Byron Buxton.
Sano added an RBI single off Tyler Glasnow in the seventh to give the Twins a four-run lead.
After Bell's home run gave the Pirates the early lead, Dozier hit a solo home run with two outs in the third inning to cut the lead to one. The Twins tied it at 2 in the fourth when Sano scored on an Escobar sacrifice fly.
The Pirates regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth on a Colin Moran RBI single, scoring recent addition Corey Dickerson.
Minnesota finished with nine hits while the Pirates had eight, two each by Dickerson and Josh Harrison.
Nova (0-1) went 5 1/3 innings, allowing five hits and five runs while striking out three and walking one.
Minnesota starter Jake Odorizzi went 4 1/3 innings and allowed five hits and three runs. However, the Twins got terrific relief pitching from Taylor Rogers (two-thirds of an inning, one hit), Trevor Hildenberger (two innings, one walk), Addison Reed (one perfect inning).
Rogers (1-0) got the win, and Fernando Rodney closed the game despite allowing two hits in the ninth.
Pittsburgh kicks off a four-game home series on Thursday against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Twins return home on Thursday to start a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners.
--Field Level Media