Pirates lean on 12 hits, strong pitching to win series over Twins, return to .500 record

The Pittsburgh Pirates found a simple equation to get back to .500 baseball, leaning on a foundation of fundamentals by hitting early, playing good defense and being smart on the basepaths.

The result: They keep taking two of three.

Wil Crowe allowed one run in four innings in a spot start, and the Pirates got three-hit games by Adam Frazier and Gregory Polanco in a 6-2 win over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday afternoon at Target Field.

The Pirates (11-11) reached respectability for the first time since April 3 by winning their third consecutive series and fourth in five since enduring a six-game skid. They finished a 10-day road trip with six wins in nine games.

“I mean, it’s a grind to do it. When you lose six games in a row, to fight your way back,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “One of the things that we talked about as a staff (Saturday) night is we played really well on this trip and we were still under .500 because of those six games. It’s a testament to the way we played. It’s a testament to how we have to play. We have to play fundamental baseball. We have to do little things.”

The Pirates have won 10 of their past 15 to win three-game series against the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, Detroit Tigers and now the Twins (they split four home games with the San Diego Padres). After an off day Monday, the Pirates begin a five-game homestand by hosting the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday at PNC Park.

With Chad Kuhl on the 10-day injured list, the Pirates recalled Crowe, a right-hander acquired from Washington in December in the Josh Bell trade, from the taxi squad before the game and optioned reliever Geoff Hartlieb to make room on the 26-man roster.

In his Pirates starting debut — he made a relief appearance April 3 — Crowe was able to pitch in front of his family for the first time in his major league career. His mother came from Charlotte, N.C., his father from Knoxville, Tenn., and his wife from their home in Charleston, S.C.

“That was the first time in the big leagues that my family could watch in person,” Crowe said, adding that his wife watched his MLB debut against Miami last year from a rooftop bar in Washington, D.C., about a mile away from Nationals Park. “It was like we were little ants on the field. First time they got to be in the stadium. It was awesome. I got to go see them after the game. It was great to have some family in the stands and be able to have that time with them.”

Crowe benefited from a two-run lead when the first three batters got hits off Matt Shoemaker (1-2). Bryan Reynolds’ bloop double down the left-field line scored Adam Frazier for a 1-0 lead, and Colin Moran’s sacrifice fly to center scored Phillip Evans to make it 2-0.

Crowe allowed hits to three of the first four batters he faced, and Byron Buxton’s single scored Luis Arraez to cut it to 2-1. But Crowe ended the inning with a double play when he snagged a 104-mph liner back to the mound by Plum’s Alex Kirilloff and threw out Buxton at first.

“It was a big momentum swing for me,” Crowe said. “I wanted to throw a strike there. I didn’t want to make a bad pitch or give him a free one, so I knew it wasn’t the best pitch I’d thrown all day. But I was ready. I knew he was either going to pull it into the shift or hit it right back up the middle, so I was kind of anticipating it, and I’m just glad it didn’t hit me.”

After Jorge Polanco led off the second with a single, Crowe didn’t allow another hit. Stretched out to throw 75-90 pitches, he allowed one run on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts on 81 pitches in four innings. Clay Holmes (1-0) got the win after retiring four of the next five batters, striking out Buxton before giving way to Sam Howard.

The Pirates used a five-hit, three-run seventh inning to stretch their lead to 5-1. Polanco started with a single to right – his second of the game and fifth hit in 11 at bats – advanced to third on a Jacob Stallings double and scored on Kevin Newman’s single to center.

That caused the Twins to pull Cody Stashak for Caleb Thielbar, who gave up a single to Adam Frazier that scored Stallings and a double to left by Reynolds to score Newman.

Polanco smacked Jorge Alcala’s 2-1 changeup for a 419-foot home run to right field for a 6-1 lead in the eighth, giving him a three-hit game for the first time since June 5, 2019 against the Atlanta Braves.

“It was a great swing,” Reynolds said. “He had a great game. I like Polanco a lot, and seeing him have that success at the end of the day is great. And to cap it off with that homer off a tough pitcher was pretty cool.”

Nelson Cruz crushed a Chris Stratton curveball for a 411-foot homer to left in the bottom of the eighth, ending a streak of 11 consecutive scoreless innings by the Pirates’ bullpen. David Bednar struck out two batters and got a groundout for the final out to close out the win.

“I just think it’s a bunch of guys who are having a bunch of fun,” Crowe said. “The locker room, the atmosphere, everything about us is just, the vibes are incredible. From the top to the bottom, we have a bunch of dudes who are really good baseball players, and we’ve got a really good team. And as long as people keep sleeping on us, we’re going to keep surprising everybody, I guess. We’re going to ride this wave, we’re going to keep playing baseball the way we know how to and keep winning games.”