Pirates rally against plummeting Twins

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- For most of the night, Minnesota and Pittsburgh showed why few fans are paying them any attention on a weekend dominated by more glamorous interleague matchups such as Yankees-Mets.

Misplayed fly balls. Walks. Misplayed ground balls. More walks. On what is supposed to be one of baseball's most attractive weekends all summer, it wasn't a pretty sight in Three Rivers Stadium.

At least not until John Vander Wal showed that one of the best pinch-hitters ever doesn't have to come off the bench to help win a game.

Vander Wal hit a tying two-run double, added a homer following Pat Meares' go-ahead shot and threw out a runner at the plate as the Pirates rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the Twins 8-6 Friday night.

OK, so it's not the White Sox vs. Cubs or Dodgers vs. Mariners, interleague series with real meaning. Only 22,134 fans were in the stands on a perfect night and, to the casual fan, there were few familiar names in the lineup.

''But nobody wants to go out there and do badly,'' said Meares, who hit what proved the decisive homer in his first game against his former team. ''We've made mistakes the whole season, and it seems every one has cost us.''

Meares and first baseman Kevin Young each made errors in a five-run Minnesota third inning against Todd Ritchie highlighted by Matt Lawton's two-run single and Corey Koskie's two-run triple.

But a 5-1 lead wasn't nearly enough for Twins starter Joe Mays, who immediately gave three runs back on Aramis Ramirez's three-run triple in the bottom of the third. Mays walked six and gave up six hits while pitching most of his five innings with runners on base.

Later, center fielder Jacque Jones and second baseman Denny Hocking collided trying to field Wil Cordero's softly hit fly ball that fell for a single in the sixth. Vander Wal followed two batters later with his tying two-run double, off reliever Bob Wells.

MINNESOTA PITTSBURGH

ab r h bi ab r h bi

CGzmn ss 4 1 1 0 WMrrs 2b 5 0 2 0

Hcking 2b 3 0 1 1 Kendall c 5 1 1 0

Lawton lf 4 1 1 2 WCrdro lf 2 2 2 0

Coomer 1b 5 1 0 0 Giles cf 5 0 1 0

Koskie 3b 5 1 2 2 KYong 1b 4 1 1 0

Allen rf 4 0 2 1 Vn Walrf 3 2 2 3

JJones cf 3 0 0 0 ANRmz 3b 5 1 2 3

Jensen c 3 1 1 0 Meares ss 4 1 1 1

Mays p 1 1 1 0 MkWls p 0 0 0 0

Cnizaro ph 1 0 0 0 Ritchie p 3 0 1 1

TEMllr p 0 0 0 0 MWkns p 0 0 0 0

BWells p 0 0 0 0 Srbeck p 0 0 0 0

JMxwll ph 1 0 0 0 Rdman ph 1 0 0 0

Crrasco p 0 0 0 0 Chrstns p 0 0 0 0

Bnjmin ss 0 0 0 0

Totals 34 6 9 6 Totals 37 8 13 8

Minnesota 005 100 000 -- 6

Pittsburgh 013 002 11x -- 8

E--KYoung (14), Meares (12). DP--Pittsburgh 1. LOB--Minnesota 8, Pittsburgh 12. 2B--Allen (1), Mays (1), WMorris 2 (15), WCordero (20), Vander Wal (17). 3B--Koskie (4), ANRamirez (1). HR--Vander Wal (10), Meares (7). SB--CGuzman (14), KYoung (5). S--Mays. SF--Hocking.

IP H R ER BB SO

Minnesota

Mays 5 6 4 4 6 5

TEMiller 1-3 3 2 2 0 0

BWells L,0-6 1 2-3 3 1 1 0 2

Carrasco 1 1 1 1 0 1

Pittsburgh

Ritchie 6 7 6 1 4 6

MWilkins 2-3 1 0 0 1 0

Sauerbeck 1-3 1 0 0 0 0

Chrstns W,2-7 1 0 0 0 0 2

MkWilliams S,11 1 0 0 0 0 2

HBP--by BWells (WCordero).

Umpires--Home, Cooper; First, Diaz; Second, Reilly; Third, Van Vleet.

T--3:06. A--22,134 (48,044).