Minnesota Twins receive 1-9 hammering against Pittsburgh Pirates – MLB Update
Minnesota Twins received a 1-9 hammering at the hands of Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Thursday, June 21 in the finale of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Garrett Jones and Andrew McCutchen provided the Pirates with a superb start. Jones reached on infield single to second in the first inning and McCutchen doubled to deep left centre in the second to put Pittsburgh 4-0 ahead.
Rod Barajas, Jones and Pedro Alvarez displayed top quality hitting skills as they all homered to extend Pirates’ lead to 9-1, which lasted till the end of the contest.
Starting pitcher James McDonald had his first career complete game. Allowing just one run and six hits with five strikeouts, he looked in top form.
"He was lights-out today," said Pittsburgh third baseman Pedro Alvarez of James. "He's been pretty good all year, but when his breaking pitch is working the way it was today for strikes and for chase, and he's locating his fastball the way he was, he's one
of the best out there. And today's performance is as good a performance as you'll have from any pitcher."
Manager Ron Gardenhire and General Manager Terry Ryan will be extremely worried about Minnesota’s performances these days.
The Twins have managed to win just 27 out of 68 games this season and they are sitting at the bottom of American League Central Division standings.
With half the season already gone by, it may not be possible for the Twins to make it to the playoffs this year but they can certainly restore some of the lost pride. It will be interesting to see if the upcoming games can bring any positive results for
them.
"As the story goes," Gardenhire said, "if you don't pitch, you get whacked."
"I know we didn't make a play behind him there but there were rockets flying everywhere," Gardenhire added.
Pirates, on the other hand, have surprised most of the National baseball analysts this season. They are just two games behind the National League Central Division Leaders Cincinnati Reds. Credit must be given to the bullpen that has delivered the goods on
regular basis.
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