Twins 4 - 3 Pirates
Final/13
  for this game

Mauer's HR in 13th lifts Twins over Pirates

May 21, 2015 - 4:57 AM Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Joe Mauer hit his first home run of the season in the 13th inning, lifting the Minnesota Twins to a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night.

Mauer's homer off Antonio Bastardo (0-1) was Minnesota's first run since Torii Hunter hit a three-run double in the top of the first inning.

Hunter had three hits for the Twins, who have won four of their last five, including both games in Pittsburgh to sweep the two-game series.

Andrew McCutchen hit a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the score for the Pirates, who have dropped six of their last seven. He and Josh Harrison had three hits apiece in the loss.

Both starting pitchers went six innings. Jeff Locke had six strikeouts for the Pirates but allowed three runs on seven hits. Mike Pelfrey had five strikeouts for the Twins and allowed just one run on five hits with no walks.

Pittsburgh fell to 0-6 in extra-inning games this season.

"It's a fresh game for me every time we go out there and unfortunately we get the wrong result a little too frequently," said manager Clint Hurdle.

The Pirates tied the score at 3 after scoring one run each in the seventh and eighth innings.

Twins reliever Ryan Pressly walked two batters in the seventh and Jose Tabata delivered a pinch-hit RBI single off Aaron Thompson with two outs.

McCutchen homered to right-center field off Blaine Boyer with one out in the eighth, his fifth of the season. Starling Marte followed with a double and Boyer intentionally walked Pedro Alvarez with two outs, but Francisco Cervelli flied out to end the inning.

Mark Melancon threw a 1-2-3 top of the ninth for Pittsburgh and J.R Graham pitched a perfect bottom of the inning for Minnesota.

After Rob Scahill worked around a walk to pitch a scoreless top of the 10th for Pittsburgh, McCutchen hit a one-out single off Graham but was caught stealing as Marte struck out, ending the inning.

Mauer lined a slider over the high right-field wall with one out in the 13th for his first homer since last Aug. 17 against Kansas City.

"I was just waiting until we played the 13th inning to do it," Mauer said with a laugh. "I knew I hit it well. I was just hoping it was high enough with that wall out there."

McCutchen singled and Jung-Ho Kang walked in the bottom of the 13th, but Glen Perkins fanned Alvarez to end the threat and get his 15th save.

Earlier, Danny Santana's leadoff double in the first inning sparked a three- run rally for Minnesota. Mauer singled, Trevor Plouffe walked and Hunter knocked in all three runners with a double off the right-field wall.

The Pirates got a run back in the bottom of the first when Marte's double inside the first base bag scored Neil Walker.

Game Notes

Brian Duensing (2-0) threw a 1-2-3 12th inning to pick up the win for Minnesota ... The Twins stay on the road to play the Chicago White Sox in a three-game series starting Friday ... The Pirates will host the New York Mets in a three-game series beginning Friday.






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