After a painful week of baseball, the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Minnesota Twins, 6-5, on Thursday at PNC Park to snap a seven-game losing streak.
J.T. Brubaker, who was making his first career MLB start, surrendered a line-drive three-run homerun to Minnesota (10-3) third baseman in the first inning to put Pittsburgh (3-10) in a 3-0 hole.
In the bottom of the second, following singles by Colin Moran and Bryan Reynolds, Gregory Polanco blasted a hanging curveball off of Kenta Maeda into the Allegheny River to tie the game at 3-3.
Brubaker was questionably pulled after three innings, being replaced by Cody Ponce.
Ponce surrendered solo homeruns to Byron Buxton (fourth inning) and Eddie Rosario (fifth inning) to give Minnesota the lead back at 5-3.
The Pirates chipped away at that lead in the late frames. In the bottom of the eighth, Jarrod Dyson walked, stole second and third base, and was brought in on an RBI groundout by Phillip Evans.
Entering the bottom of the ninth, the Pirates trailed 5-4 and seemed destined to lose their eighth consecutive game.
However, a bloop single by Colin Moran and a double down the left field line by Bryan Reynolds put the Pirates in prime position to walk the game off with no outs. After a strikeout by Gregory Polanco, pinch-hitter Kevin Newman brought in Cole Tucker (pinch-running for Moran) and Reynolds on a two-run single to give Pittsburgh its first walkoff victory of 2020.
Out of the bullpen, Chris Stratton and Sam Howard combined to pitch three scoreless innings. Colin Moran and Bryan Reynolds each recorded two hits on the day.
The Twins will travel to Kansas City for a weekend series with the Royals, while the Pirates will welcome in the Detroit Tigers for another Interleague clash.
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