Pirates struggle with runners in scoring position, fall to Twins on the road

The Pittsburgh Pirates dropped the first of three games against Minnesota Friday night at Target Field, but it was not because of a lack of scoring opportunities.

Quite the contrary.

In the 5-1 defeat, the Pirates were 1 of 14 with men in scoring positions and stranded 11 runners on base.

A seventh-inning RBI single by Bryan Reynolds, who was 3 for 5, was the lone exception to the Pirates’ inability to drive in anybody.

The Pirates (54-68) got their leadoff man aboard in the first, second, third, fifth and seventh innings, but other than Reynolds’ single, which scored Alika Williams, they came up empty.

Twins starter Pablo Lopez (9-6) pitched six shutout innings and picked up the win.

“We had him in situations that we wanted, and we just did not capitalize,” manager Derek Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “We have to capitalize. When you have run-scoring opportunities — and we had multiple early in the game — we’ve got to at least put (the ball) in play.”

The Pirates entrusted Andre Jackson with the start, and other than an elevated changeup that Michael Taylor jacked for a two-run homer in the fourth, he was effective.

But Jackson (0-1, 5.28) was the losing pitcher Friday, going 4⅓ innings, allowing four hits and three walks with six strikeouts.

He was replaced by Ryan Borucki, who pitched parts of the fifth and sixth, allowing one run that came after he exited the game in favor of Colin Selby.

Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh, the Pirates hit real trouble with Angel Perdomo on the mound.

Royce Lewis doubled and with two outs, and Perdomo intentionally walked Carlos Correa.

But Jorge Polanco and Kyle Farmer floated back-to-back RBI hits into shallow right field, scoring two runs to put Minnesota up 5-1.

Ji Hwan Bae led off and started in center field Friday, making his return to the Pirates lineup after spending more than six weeks on the injured list with a sprained ankle.

Bae went 2 for 4 with a double and a walk, and Endy Rodriguez collected three hits in four at-bats.

Conversely, Henry Davis and Jack Suwinski went a combined 0 for 8 with five strikeouts.

Suwinski is hitting .089 (4 for 45) with 22 strikeouts in August, and Davis has batted .167 (9 for 54) this month.

“Give (Minnesota) credit because they moved the ball forward,” Shelton said. “We had opportunities to score, and we didn’t capitalize.”