Things aren’t going well for the Twins these days, and Wednesday’s loss to Pittsburgh brought even more frustration.
Andrew McCutchen hit a home run and turned an RBI single into race around the bases while Minnesota made two errors in a five-run sixth inning, helping Francisco Liriano and the Pittaburgh Pirates beat the Twins 10-4 for a two-game sweep.
It was the fourth straight loss for the Twins whose lead in the wild card chase slipped to a single game.
Jung Ho Kang homered for the second straight day for the Pirates, after going deep for the go-ahead run in the ninth the night before. McCutchen’s two-run, two-strike, two-out drive off Ervin Santana (2-1) in the fifth inning tied the game at 3, and the Twins unraveled in the sixth.
One run scored on a wild pitch. Then Santana walked two straight batters. Starling Marte hit a sacrifice fly, and McCutchen hit a sharp single that bounced in front of left fielder Eddie Rosario. The ball skipped past him to the warning track, allowing another run to score and McCutchen to reach third.
The slow-rolling relay throw scooted underneath Eduardo Nunez’s glove for another error that allowed McCutchen to score — but not before he collided with Nunez, contact that was hard enough to knock them both to the ground and cue the blooper-tape soundtrack.
