MINNEAPOLIS — Pablo López pitched six scoreless innings, Michael A. Taylor hit a two-run homer and the Minnesota Twins beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1 on Friday evening.

López (9-6) allowed six hits and walked two, and prolonged his scoreless streak to a career-best 19 innings. He had seven strikeouts and is tied with Toronto’s Kevin Gausman for second within the majors with 187 strikeouts behind solely Atlanta’s Spencer Strider (227).

“You have to work with what you have some days, and I put myself behind some counts, ran into some trouble,” López mentioned. “But you can always control the very next pitch. So that was my approach tonight.”

López hasn’t allowed a run in his final three begins. He owns a 0.36 ERA over his previous 4 begins, reducing his season ERA to three.51.

“He’s doing everything at a very high level,” Minnesota supervisor Rocco Baldelli mentioned. “When he needed it, he went to many, many different pitches, made a few in-game adjustments mechanically, which he still does even in the middle of a stretch like this. He’s still looking at things that might help him. He’s doing it all right now is what he’s doing.”

Taylor linked for his sixteenth homer of the season with two outs within the fourth inning to open the scoring. Donovan Solano had two hits, together with an RBI single within the sixth for Minnesota.

PHOTOS: López extends his scoreless streak to 19 innings and Taylor homers as Twins beat Pirates 5-1

The Twins gained for the fourth time in 5 video games and prolonged their lead within the AL Central to 5 video games over Cleveland.

Andre Jackson (0-1) gave up two runs on 4 hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings for Pittsburgh, which has misplaced 4 of 5. The one-time Los Angeles Dodgers prospect, who was acquired on June 25 for money concerns, was making his second main league begin.

The Pirates had loads of possibilities to interrupt by towards López, getting a runner on base in each inning towards the All-Star right-hander. But Pittsburgh went 1 for 14 with runners in scoring place and left 10 runners on base.

“We had him in situations that we wanted him in,” Pirates supervisor Derek Shelton mentioned. “We did not capitalize and 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.”

CONCRETE HANDS

Minnesota outfielder Matt Wallner was hit within the hand by a pitch within the seventh inning on a swing and was faraway from the sport. The workforce introduced Wallner has a proper hand contusion and Baldelli mentioned preliminary assessments didn’t present any indicators of a fracture.

“His bones are like made of cement,” Baldelli mentioned. “I don’t know how his hand isn’t broken because it looked like he got hit pretty squarely and he got called for a strike on the pitch, too, which means his hand’s going forward while the pitch is coming in. Luckily, it sounds like he’s OK.”

Later within the eighth, Pittsburgh reliever Yohan Ramirez hit Jordan Luplow and Royce Lewis with pitches and Baldelli mentioned the 2 are high-quality.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Pirates: Ji Hwan Bae was activated from the 10-day injured listing after recovering from a left ankle sprain. Infielder Jared Triolo was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis. … RHP Dauri Moreta (low again irritation) was scheduled to begin a rehab task at Triple-A on Friday.

Twins: C Ryan Jeffers was scratched from the lineup with a sore again. Baldelli mentioned Jeffers “probably could have played” and was out there Friday in an emergency. … RHP Joe Ryan (left groin pressure) made his first rehab begin with Triple-A St. Paul on Friday. The solely hit he allowed was a solo homer and he had seven strikeouts in 4 innings.

UP NEXT

RHP Mitch Keller (9-8, 4.27 ERA) will begin Saturday for Pittsburgh as Minnesota counters with RHP Sonny Gray (6-5, 3.04). Keller, a first-time All-Star this 12 months, has acquired two runs or much less of help in 11 of his final 13 begins. Gray has compiled 5 straight high quality begins after his final outing was six scoreless innings towards Philadelphia.

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