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Friday, Jul. 7 7:05pm ET
Meares leads Pirates over Twins | |||||
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GAME LOG
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Pat Meares won't have much trouble remembering his first game against his former team, even if he spent much of it trying to forget a potentially costly mistake. Meares hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied from four runs down to beat Minnesota 8-6 Friday night, the Twins' sixth consecutive loss. In an interleague matchup with far less fan appeal -- and far fewer fans -- than Yankees-Mets or White Sox-Cubs -- Pirates right fielder John Vander Wal had a tying two-run double in the sixth, a solo homer in the eighth and threw out a runner at the plate. Meares, who spent six seasons with Minnesota before signing with Pittsburgh last year, broke a 6-all tie by leading off the seventh with a homer off Bob Wells (0-6). It was Meares' seventh homer and his second in three games after he homered only once in June. Helped by two Pittsburgh errors, one by Meares, Minnesota had opened a 5-1 lead by scoring five unearned runs with two outs in the third against Pirates starter Todd Ritchie. "I hate making mistakes, especially because it seems that every time we make a mistake it just kills us," said Meares, who missed the Pirates' series against Minnesota last season with a hand injury. "I was trying to do something to make up for it." Corey Koskie's two-run triple and Matt Lawton's two-run single highlighted the third, finished off by Chad Allen's RBI double. Allen was recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake City earlier in the day. The Pirates likely would have gotten out of the third without the Twins scoring if Meares, the shortstop, hadn't thrown wildly to third trying to retire pitcher Joe Mays on Cristian Guzman's one-out grounder. Kevin Young later kept the inning going by misplaying Ron Coomer's two-out grounder -- his 14th error, the most among major league first basemen. "We've had a lot of these games where we've had to try to come back," Pirates manager Gene Lamont said. "We've gotten ourselves into holes too many times." However, Mays, who has a 10-21 career record, immediately gave three runs back by walking two and allowing Young's single ahead of Aramis Ramirez's bases-clearing triple in the Pittsburgh third. "We've had a lot of little funks like this," Mays said. "We get a decent lead, then I give up a couple of hits and make a decent curveball to Ramirez, and he hits it down the line. Eight or nine times out of 10, that ball is caught." Another ball that wasn't caught also cost the Twins. Minnesota added a run on two walks, a single and Denny Hocking's sacrifice fly in the fourth. However, the Pirates tied it on Vander Wal's two-run double off Wells in the sixth after reliever Travis Miller allowed three consecutive one-out singles, one when center fielder Jacque Jones and second baseman Denny Hocking collided trying to catch Wil Cordero's softly hit fly ball. Vander Wal threw Allen out at the plate as he tried to score on Marcus Jensen's two-out single in the seventh. "Defensively, I think I've been underrated for a long time," Vander Wal said. "You get a reputation as a pinch-hitter, and all of a sudden you can't play defense. I don't have a gun for an arm, but I can get the ball up there." The Pirates won their third in a row, one short of their season high, as relievers Marc Wilkins, Scott Sauerbeck, Jason Christiansen (2-7) and Mike Williams combined for three scoreless innings. Christiansen pitched a scoreless seventh and was credited with the victory, ending his seven-game losing streak. Williams finished up for his 11th save in 12 opportunities. Game notesAllen, who hit .277 as a Twins regular last season, replaced Butch Huskey on the roster. Huskey was sent outright to Salt Lake City. ... Wells began the season with a 30-15 career record. ... Ritchie has allowed 15 hits and 13 runs, eight earned, in nine innings since shutting out the Cubs 6-0 on June 27. Only one of the six runs yielded by Ritchie on Friday was earned. ... Mays walked six in five innings. ... The attendance was 22,134, one of the smallest for a Pirates weekend game this season. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Minnesota Clubhouse Pittsburgh Clubhouse RECAPS Chi. White Sox 4 Chicago Cubs 2
Pittsburgh 8
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