Twins 8, Pirates 5
PITTSBURGH --- Joe Mauer hit a rare three-run single to key a six-run second inning and Brian Dozier and Trevor Plouffe homered to lead the Minnesota Twins to an 8-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.
Catcher Kurt Suzuki, Plouffe and center fielder Aaron Hicks had two hits each for the Twins, who won for the third time in four games.
Right-hander Ricky Nolasco (4-1) made it through 5 1/3 shaky innings to win his fourth straight start since being on the disabled list with elbow inflammation. He gave up four runs --- three earned --- and 10 hits and has yet to pitch into the sixth inning in any of his five starts this season.
Closer Glen Perkins recorded his 14th save in as many opportunities by pitching a perfect ninth inning.
Left-hander Francisco Liriano (1-4) gave up both home runs and was tagged for seven runs and five hits in just two innings while losing his third consecutive start. He spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Twins from 2005-12.
The Pirates lost for the fifth time in six games, though third baseman Josh Harrison and rookie shortstop Jung Ho Kang each had three hits. Second baseman Neil Walker and first baseman Pedro Alvarez each had two of Pittsburgh’s 13 hits.
Dozier, the second batter of the game, opened the scoring by hitting a solo home run to center field. The homer was Dozier's seventh of the season and extended his hitting streak to 10 games, one short of his career high.
The Twins erupted for six runs in the second inning to take a 7-0 lead. Suzuki scored on a wild pitch by Liriano, and Mauer delivered his three-run single before Plouffe's home run, his sixth, capped the inning.
Pinch hitter Jose Tabata, called up by the Pirates from Triple-A Indianapolis earlier in the day, singled in a run in the bottom of the second.
The Twins got the run back in the third when Suzuki led off with a double and scored on a double-play grounder.
The Pirates scored a run in the fourth as Alvarez blasted his seventh homer, a 461-foot drive that landed in a boat docked along the Allegheny River beyond the right-field stands.
It was just the third ball to reach the river on the fly since PNC Park opened in 2001. The others were by Houston's Daryle Ward in 2002 and Pittsburgh's Garrett Jones in 2013.
Shortstop Jung Ho Kang drove in a run with a ground out in the fifth to draw the Pirates within 8-3.
NOTES: The Pirates selected the contract of OF Jose Tabata, who was dropped from the 40-man roster last October, from Triple-A Indianapolis before the game and optioned RHP Wilfredo Boscan to the same club. Tabata, who has a $4 million salary in the fifth year of a six-year, $15 million contract, was hitting .352 with no homers and four RBIs in 28 games at Indianapolis. Boscan was called up from Indianapolis on Saturday, a day after the Pirates used eight pitchers in a 12-inning loss to the Cubs in Chicago, but did not appear in any games. ... Twins DH/OF Torii Hunter started in right field with the designated hitter rule not in effect in a National League ballpark, which meant OF Eddie Rosario was not in the lineup for just the third time in 12 games since being called up from Triple-A Rochester. ... The two-game series concludes Wednesday night with Minnesota RHP Mike Pelfrey (3-1, 3.23 ERA) facing Pittsburgh LHP Jeff Locke (2-2, 5.40).