Major League Baseball
Pittsburgh 6, Minnesota 2
When: 2:10 PM ET, Saturday, April 24, 2021
Where: Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Temperature: 40°
Umpires: Home - Jeremie Rehak, 1B - Scott Barry, 2B - Dan Iassogna, 3B - Jose Navas
Attendance: 9718

Trevor Cahill allowed one run on two hits over six innings and Michael Perez and Kevin Newman each homered as the Pittsburgh Pirates cruised to a 6-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday in Minneapolis.

Perez, who entered the game 0-for-15 on the road, went 3-for-3 with a walk and three RBIs. It was the third three-hit game of his career.

Cahill (1-2) entered the contest with a 9.69 ERA and had allowed seven runs in two of his three previous starts.

On Saturday, Cahill kept the Twins off-balance with a variety of off-speed pitches. He walked two, struck out two and retired the last 13 batters he faced while inducing 11 groundouts.

Michael Pineda (1-1) suffered the loss after allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits and a walk in 4 1/3 innings while striking out five. It was the first time since June 23, 2019 that he allowed five runs in a start.

Jake Cave went 2-for-3 with two doubles, a run scored and an RBI for the Twins, who finished with just three hits.

Pittsburgh took a 3-0 lead in the second inning.

Erik Gonzalez singled with one out, went to third on a bloop double down the left field line by Gregory Polanco and then scored on shortstop Jorge Polanco's throwing error on a Todd Frazier grounder. Perez then followed with a two-run double into the gap in right-center, his first extra-base hit of the season.

The Twins cut it to 3-1 in the bottom of the second inning when Polanco walked, advanced to second on a single by Willians Astudillo and scored on Cave's double to left-center.

The Pirates extended their lead to 5-1 in the fifth on back-to-back homers by Perez and Newman. Perez's blast was a 408-foot drive into the plaza behind the right-field bleachers, while Newman's homer was his first of the season.

Pittsburgh made it 6-1 on a sacrifice fly by Newman in the sixth.

The Twins cut it to 6-2 in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Josh Donaldson, driving in Cave who led off with a double and advanced to third when left fielder Phillip Evans dropped a fly ball hit by Luis Arraez.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Pittsburgh   Minnesota
Trevor Cahill Player Michael Pineda
Win W/L Loss
6.0 IP 4.1
2 Strikeouts 5
2 Hits 6
1.50 ERA 8.31
Hitting
Pittsburgh   Minnesota
Michael Perez Player Jake Cave
3 Hits 2
3 RBI 1
1 HR 0
7 TB 4
1.000 Avg .667
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Pittsburgh 7 2 15 .212 12 8 6 2 0 1
Minnesota 3 0 5 .100 6 7 2 2 0 2