Spring training stats are relatively meaningless, so the Pittsburgh Pirates won’t celebrate leading all major league teams with 27 home runs through 12 Grapefruit League games.
If that sounds unlikely, consider Diego Castillo leading the Pirates in home runs after hitting two in a 4-9 loss to the Minnesota Twins at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Fla. on Wednesday.
Pirates outfielder Bligh Madris scored a home hit against Twins starter Josh Winder in the second inning. Castillo, starting at shortstop, hit a solo homer from Taylor Rogers in the fourth inning to take a 2-0 lead and a two-run shot from Caleb Thielbar in the sixth inning.
2-run homer, 2-homer tag pic.twitter.com/hyHxv4MGpg
— Young Bucs (@YoungBucsPIT) March 30, 2022
Bryse Wilson accepted the loss after allowing three runs with three hits and two walks with four strikeouts in the first 3 1/3 innings. In the fourth inning, he gave a two-run double to Gary Sanchez and a runs-scoring single to Byron Buxton.
The Twins retired with six runs in the fifth inning thanks to homers from Miguel Sano and Buxton, who hit a grand slam from left Dillon Peters, who gave up six runs with five hits and a walk.
Zach Thompson will take on Keegan Akin when the Pirates (5-5-2) host the Baltimore Orioles at 1:05 p.m. Thursday at LECOM Park in Bradenton.
Kevin Gorman is a contributor to the Tribune Review. You can contact Kevin via email at [email protected] or via Twitter .