Polanco, Sano power Twins over Pirates

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS

Jorge Polanco got two hits, scored twice and drove in two runs and Miguel Sano hit a two-run homer, leading the Minnesota Twins to a 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.

Jake Odorizzi (5-7) won for the first time in six starts, striking out nine in 52/3 innings.

Trevor Hildenberger, the fourth reliever of the game for the Twins, pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save since the trade of closer Fernando Rodney.

Pirates starter Jameson Taillon (9-9) finished six innings and allowed three earned runs, the 14th straight time he’s taken the mound and surrendered no more than that.

Taillon has logged six innings in 10 of those starts, and he’s 4-2 with a 2.70 ERA in his last six turns.

David Freese, who three hits, singled and scored on Francisco Cervelli’s double as the Pirates went up 2-0 in the second.

They were stuck there, though.

Tyler Duffey struck out Cervelli with two on to end the sixth and Matt Magill retired Cervelli on a popup with the bases loaded in the eighth, both times with the Twins clinging to a 3-2 lead.

Sano delivered a no-doubt drive to right field off Richard Rodriguez in the bottom of the eighth, his ninth homer of this disappointing season and his first at Target Field since May 31.

The absence of Sano and Polanco, who hit a two-run single in the fourth inning before Jake Cave’s RBI single put the Twins in front, from the lineup for much of the first half was one of several stumbles the Twins have experienced this year.

Odorizzi, who came in an offseason trade with Tampa Bay, has completed six innings just seven times in 25 starts this year.

He has not pitched longer than six innings.

In 2017, he lasted that long in 13 of 28 starts.

In 2016, he did so 18 out of 33 times.

The Twins, who began the day 121/2 games behind AL Central-leading Cleveland, are 15-4 in their last 19 home games.

The Pirates, who started this series with a five-game deficit in the NL wild-card race with three teams between them and the second spot, lost for only the fourth time in 16 games against AL teams this year.