Pirates 17, Twins 6: Doyle Destroyed

I know that results don't matter as much as any other number of aspects at this point, but it's still tough to see one of your guys beat around like the game difficulty was set to Hall of Fame mode. Terry Doyle didn't get out of the first inning this afternoon, retiring just two batters en route to an eight-run inning off seven hits and a walk. None of those hits were home runs though, so I'm not sure whether that makes the feat more or less impressive.

Anthony Swarzak, Phil Dumatrait and Brendan Wise also had their tails handed to them on a silver platter, meaning the Twins were never really back in the game in spite of scoring four runs between the first two innings.

Doyle and Swarzak combined to allow a ten spot in the first, as the Pirates logged eleven hits and two walks. Four doubles in the inning. A hit batter. Oh, and one of Doyles two outs included Joe Mauer gunning down Casey McGehee at second base.

Danny Valencia drove in the run for Minnesota in the first, and in the second Denard Span and Alexi Casilla executed a successful double steal before Mauer drove them both in. In the bottom of the fifth Luke Hughes drove in Brian Dinkelman before being thrown out trying to stretch his double into a triple. In the sixth, Drew Butera doubled to score Pedro Florimon.

Time to get past this one. Bring on Friday, folks.

Battle for Squatters Rights

Drew Butera: 1-for-1, 2B, RBI
J.R. Towles: Not available

Performance Means Nothing But These Guys Looked Good

Perkins, Perdomo, Capps, Span, Mauer, Valencia, Casilla, Dinkelman, Plouffe, Hughes

Not So Much...

Doyle, Swarzak, Wise, Benson, Carson, Chang