BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) _ Cristian Guzman's bad-hop triple led to a two-run Minnesota first inning and Pittsburgh starter Francisco Cordova's first spring loss in two years as the Twins beat the Pirates 2-1 Wednesday.

Cordova was 6-0 over his last nine spring starts until yielding two earned runs and five hits and walking two in five innings.

``I think you have to look at the way he threw, not just the results,'' said Pirates manager Gene Lamont, who was satisfied with the right-hander's outing. ``I think he's been much more consistent this spring than he was last season.''

Cordova, expected to start the Pirates' fourth game of the season April 7 against Arizona, was 2-0 with nine scoreless innings this spring until the Twins' first.

Jacque Jones singled and Guzman bounced a grounder over first baseman Kevin Young's head and down the right-field line for a triple, scoring Jones. Ron Coomer's sacrifice fly to left scored Guzman.

Five Minnesota pitchers limited the Pirates to one run and eight hits. Twins starter Johan Santana struck out four over three scoreless but, according to manager Tom Kelly, up-and-down innings.

Santana lowered his spring ERA to 0.69, yielding three hits and walking two.

``I thought he was very inconsistent,'' Kelly said. ``I asked the umpire (Marvin Hudson) how he was throwing, and he said he was inconsistent. I thought the catcher (Marcus Jensen) did a good job handling some of his breaking balls in the dirt, but he settled down after a while.''

The Pirates scored only on pinch-hitter John Vander Wal's sacrifice fly off Bob Wells in the seventh inning, wasting four scoreless innings by relievers Jeff Wallace, Josias Manzanillo, Mike Williams and Jose Silva.

Williams and Silva are competing for the Pirates' still unfilled closer's job. Williams was the most-used closer last season, but Silva has made a nice recovery from shoulder surgery in November and is still in the running.

Lamont also said there is a chance he won't designate a closer, but instead might let game situations dictate who pitches in late-inning situations.

``It's nice to have just one guy, because that allows you to set up all of your other pitchers,'' Lamont said. ``But we'll do what's best to win games. If it's best to send one guy out, we'll do it that way. If it depends on who's coming up, we'll do it that way.''

Silva has allowed three runs in six innings but, despite the surgery, has had no trouble bouncing back after each outing and has impressed Lamont with his velocity.

Pirates center fielder Chad Hermansen was 1-for-3 despite striking out in his first two at-bats since sitting out for eight days with a sore rib cage muscle.

Hermansen has 60 homers in the minors the last two seasons and, until getting hurt, was almost assured of being in the opening day lineup. Now, he must prove the injury isn't bothering him and, at the same time, regain his batting stroke.

``I felt pretty relaxed,'' Hermansen said. ``I don't feel like I missed too much out there. My first at-bat, I felt I had to ease into it and see some pitches but, after that, I felt like I could let my bat go.''