MINNEAPOLIS -- While watching video preparing for Twins starter Michael Pineda, Michael Peréz noticed that when Pineda got ahead in the count, 0-2 or 1-2, he would rely on his slider to try to get the strikeout.
So in the fifth inning, down 0-2, he was looking for the breaking pitch, but instead saw a belt-high fastball coming.
“It just looked pretty,” Peréz said through translator Mike Gonzalez.
Peréz took a good swing on the ball and connected for a 408-foot home run. Four pitches later, Kevin Newman got a hold of a fastball to make it back-to-back jacks, a first for the Pirates this season.
Powered by the bottom of their order, the Pirates bounced back from nearly being no-hit the night before to beat the Twins, 6-2, on Saturday at Target Field.
It was a reversal for how the Pirates’ offense has operated this season. While the top of the lineup has produced -- with Adam Frazier, Phillip Evans, Bryan Reynolds and Colin Moran all getting off to good starts -- those in the latter half of the starting nine have struggled.
Going into play Saturday, the Pirates had a collective .167 batting average and .501 OPS from their Nos. 6 through 9 hitters, which were both the lowest in baseball. Their 18 RBIs were the second lowest, as were their three home runs. If the top of the order didn’t hit one game, it was safe to say no Pirate would.
Instead, it was the bottom half that carried the load on Saturday. No. 6 hitter Gregory Polanco doubled and scored a run. Designated hitter Todd Frazier picked up an RBI and scored two more.
But it was Peréz in the eight hole and Newman at nine who did the heavy lifting. Peréz went 3-for-3 with a walk, a double and three RBIs. Newman homered and picked up a second RBI on a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
“C-Mo and those guys at the top, they’ve been critical to our success so far, coming up with clutch hits, clutch RBIs, go-ahead RBIs,” Newman said. “They’ve been killing it, so it’s definitely nice to get in the mix and contribute.”
After a historic spring, Newman stumbled out of the gate this year and was dropped from fifth in the order to eighth, or with the DH, ninth. Not only was he not hitting the ball hard, it was usually on the ground.
Entering the series, Derek Shelton brought up that Newman was making some adjustments to his swing, and that he was sticking with his shortstop so he could get some reps to work his way out of his early season slump.
“He looks more stable in the box, and what I mean by that is in his setup, it looks like he’s in a better position,” Shelton said. “Sometimes that doesn’t translate right away. Today, we saw him hit a ball.”
Newman said it was hard to explain what he was working on -- and playfully added that “I can't give you guys all the secrets,” -- but it confirmed that he was focusing on the right parts of his approach.
“Hitting that ball out helped solidify the things that I’ve been working on,” Newman said. “Just some small tweaks, really. More mentality than anything. I’m going back to trying to get a ball over the plate and doing some damage.”
Newman’s home run had an exit velocity of 105.1 mph, the hardest struck ball that resulted in a hit for him since August 29, 2019. He came a Byron Buxton diving grab away from a double as well.
Peréz had gotten off to a slow start at the plate after winning the backup catcher job this spring, recording just one hit on a broken bat single in his 18 at-bats entering Saturday. Part of that can be tied to his inconsistent playing time, between the Pirates’ abundance of early off-days and Jacob Stallings getting more time behind the plate.
But on Saturday, he was in the groove.
"Today was special,” Peréz said. “There was something about me today that felt beyond comfortable, beyond confident.”
The homers from Newman and Peréz grabbed the eye, but it was the production of some of the balls that weren’t crushed that made a difference as well. Peréz’s two-run double in second was set up by Polanco popping a ball up to the opposite field that no Twin was in position to catch, and an Erik González bloop. Peréz’s single was also a well-placed blooper, and Newman’s sacrifice fly was poked to right.
The fact the later half of the order capitalized on opportunities and put balls in play is what stood out for Shelton.
“Those are the kinds of things we have to do,” Shelton said. “It was nice to see the bottom of the order do that.”
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Sticking with the theme of unexpected heroes Saturday, Trevor Cahill pitched a gem, going six innings of one run ball.
In the second, he walked two and allowed a pair of hits. In his other five innings, he did not allow a baserunner. While he only struck out two, he made up for it with plenty of ground balls.
"We just did a good job keeping them off-balance today," Cahill said.
After pitching to a 9.69 ERA his first three starts, Saturday was a complete 180 degree turn from his early fortunes.
It was also the most junk he has thrown this year. Of his 88 pitches, only 15 were fastballs.
"He understands how to pitch, he understands how to use his stuff," Shelton said. "Obviously, today, he had much better feel for his breaking ball and was able to execute it. I thought he did a nice job getting some early-count outs by executing pitches that stayed off the barrel, which is extremely important. It made him efficient."
• While they weren't able to string much together all afternoon, the Twins nearly broke through in the eighth when left fielder Phillip Evans misread a fly ball which ticked off his glove. With runners on second and third and one out, Shelton went to Kyle Crick to face Josh Donaldson and Nelson Cruz.
Crick came out on top, getting Donaldson to fly out to center for a sacrifice fly and then getting Cruz to strike out looking on three straight sliders.
"Those are big outs," Shelton said. "To come in and do that was outstanding."
Duane Underwood Jr. was charged with an unearned run over 1 1/3 innings, striking out three. Richard Rodriguez pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to close the game.
• The Pirates have now gone a season-high six games and 56 innings without an error.
• As for that double that Buxton robbed Newman of:
"Off the bat, I was like, ‘Yes, thankfully, finally, I got a hit,' " Newman said. "I didn’t think there was any chance he was going to get it."
During the call, Newman asked if anyone knew what the catch probability was. Statcast measured it at 40%. Newman thought it would be lower.
"Tip your cap to him, I guess. I’m still pissed, though,” he joshed.
• Factoid of the game: The last time the Pirates No. 8 and 9 hitters homered in consecutive at-bats was June 29, 2012 -- shortstop Clint Barmes and pinch-hitter Alex Presley.
The last time Pirates starting No. 8 and 9 batters went back-to-back was June 27, 2001 vs. the Brewers. That time, it was outfielder Derek Bell and pitcher Jason Schmidt, who went back-to-back off Jimmy Haynes in the sixth inning.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card behind Cahill:
Adam Frazier, 2B
Phillip Evans, LF
Bryan Reynolds, CF
Colin Moran,1B
Erik Gonzalez, 3B
Gregory Polanco, RF
Todd Frazier, DH
Michael Peréz, C
Kevin Newman, SS
And for Rocco Baldelli's Twins:
Luis Arraez, 2B
Josh Donaldson, 3B
Nelson Cruz, DH
Byron Buxton, CF
Alex Kirilloff, LF
Jorge Polanco, SS
Willians Astudillo, 1B
Jake Cave, RF
Ryan Jeffers, C
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates will go with Wil Crowe (0-0, 13.50) in Sunday's finale. They will need to make a corresponding roster move to activate him from the taxi squad. The Twins will throw Matt Shoemaker (1-1, 6.28). First pitch will be at 2:10 p.m. ET.
THE CONTENT
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