Diego Castillo homers twice for MLB-leading Pirates but Bryon Buxton's slam lifts Twins
Spring training statistics are relatively meaningless, so the Pittsburgh Pirates aren’t about to celebrate that they lead all major-league teams with 27 home runs through 12 Grapefruit League games.
If that sounds improbable, consider Diego Castillo leads the Pirates in homers after hitting two in a 9-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Fla.
Pirates outfielder Bligh Madris homered off Twins starter Josh Winder in the second inning. Castillo, who started at shortstop, hit a solo homer off Taylor Rogers in the fourth inning for a 2-0 lead and a two-run shot off Caleb Thielbar in the sixth.
2-run homer, 2 homer day pic.twitter.com/hyHxv4MGpg
— Young Bucs (@YoungBucsPIT) March 30, 2022
Bryse Wilson took the loss after allowing three runs on three hits and two walks with four strikeouts in the first 3 1/3 innings, giving up a two-run double to Gary Sanchez and a run-scoring single to Byron Buxton in the fourth.
The Twins pulled away in the six-run fifth inning, thanks to home runs by Miguel Sano and Buxton, who hit a grand slam off lefty Dillon Peters, who gave up six runs on five hits and one walk.
Zach Thompson is scheduled to start against Keegan Akin when the Pirates (5-5-2) host the Baltimore Orioles at 1:05 p.m. Thursday at LECOM Park in Bradenton.
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.