Pirates defeat Twins 2-1 on Hunter Owen’s walk-off homer

It was a game bookmarked by offense at the start and the end, but the Pittsburgh Pirates broke through a 1-1 tie in the bottom on the ninth to score a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins this afternoon at LECOM Park

With yet another tie looming as the Pirates came to bat in the ninth, I tweeted this:

Hunter Owen, who’d replaced Oneil Cruz in left field (not a typo), must have heard me because this happened:

Something, something, my lips, God’s ears, something.

The only other offense for both teams came in the first inning. Once again, a Pirates starter, this time Bryse Wilson, dispatched two Twins handily before walking Trevor Larnach and Kyle Garlick back-to-back. Jake Cave singled to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.

The Bucs answered right back, thanks to Bryan Reynolds. Michael Chavis with the call:

Really, that was it for scoring. Each team got four hits. Outside of the two Bucco homers, all of them were singles.

And yes, Oneil Cruz started the game in left field. It should be noted that Cave’s RBI single dropped in front of Cruz, which prompted this:

It’s spring training, the time for experiments.

BD Commentariat member FredClarke noted that the Bucs would have shut out the Twins if not for Wilson’s hiccups. It was hard to tell whether it was good pitching or lackadaisical Twins bats, but all the Pirates pitchers today seemed to have their stuff. Beau Sulser ended up with the win, for what it’s worth.

The Pirates will play their only night game of 2022 spring training tomorrow at 6:05 p.m. against the Orioles. Pirates.com will have the audio.