PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Joe Mauer hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot off Antonio Bastardo in the 13th inning to help the Minnesota Twins to a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night.Mauer's fly ball to right reached the first row of seats, his first home run since Aug. 17, 2014. Torii Hunter went 3 for 5 with three RBIs for the Twins, who improved to an AL-best 13-5 in May.Brian Duensing (2-0) picked up the win. Glen Perkins worked the last inning for his major league-leading 15th save.Josh Harrison went 3 for 6 for the Pirates. Andrew McCutchen had three hits, including a solo home run off Blaine Boyer in the eighth but the Pirates fell to 0-6 in extra-inning games when Bastardo (0-1) let Mauer go deep. 
Pittsburgh has lost six of seven and moved a season-worst four games under .500.One night after jumping to a 7-0 lead against former Twin Francisco Liriano, Minnesota again wasted little time getting to Pittsburgh starter Jeff Locke.Santana led off with a double, Mauer singled one out later and Trevor Plouffe walked to load the bases with one out. Hunter brought them all home, slapping a double off the Clemente Wall in right field that took a weird bounce off the scoreboard away from Harrison, giving Plouffe time to chug around all the way from first.Locke finally wiggled free without further damage but needed 36 pitches to get three outs. He regained his control and composure the rest of the way, working six innings while walking two and striking out six but remained winless in his last five starts.Minnesota starter Mike Pelfrey cooled recently after a hot April, failing to make it out of the fifth inning in two of his last three starts. He immediately gave back a run when Starling Marte singled home Neil Walker in the bottom of the first but breezed through six innings, allowing one run and five hits with no walks before the bullpen gave it away.The Pirates pulled within one on an RBI-single by recently recalled Jose Tabata off Aaron Thompson in the seventh and McCutchen tied it in the eighth with a line shot just over the wall in center.Neither team put a runner in scoring position in extra innings until Mauer took an 89 mph offering from Bastardo and just cleared the 21-foot wall in right.
Pittsburgh has lost six of seven and moved a season-worst four games under .500.One night after jumping to a 7-0 lead against former Twin Francisco Liriano, Minnesota again wasted little time getting to Pittsburgh starter Jeff Locke.Santana led off with a double, Mauer singled one out later and Trevor Plouffe walked to load the bases with one out. Hunter brought them all home, slapping a double off the Clemente Wall in right field that took a weird bounce off the scoreboard away from Harrison, giving Plouffe time to chug around all the way from first.Locke finally wiggled free without further damage but needed 36 pitches to get three outs. He regained his control and composure the rest of the way, working six innings while walking two and striking out six but remained winless in his last five starts.Minnesota starter Mike Pelfrey cooled recently after a hot April, failing to make it out of the fifth inning in two of his last three starts. He immediately gave back a run when Starling Marte singled home Neil Walker in the bottom of the first but breezed through six innings, allowing one run and five hits with no walks before the bullpen gave it away.The Pirates pulled within one on an RBI-single by recently recalled Jose Tabata off Aaron Thompson in the seventh and McCutchen tied it in the eighth with a line shot just over the wall in center.Neither team put a runner in scoring position in extra innings until Mauer took an 89 mph offering from Bastardo and just cleared the 21-foot wall in right.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
