The Pittsburgh Pirates showed how much they value the versatility of Phillip Evans and Erik Gonzalez by keeping them on the 26-man Opening Day roster.
Both put theirs on display by playing out of their natural positions Monday afternoon against the Minnesota Twins. Evans started in right field then moved to first base, where Gonzalez started before switching to center field.
Not only did Gonzalez fare well in the field but he also delivered a two-run home run as the Pirates lost to the Twins, 5-3, in their Grapefruit League home finale at LECOM Park in Bradenton, Fla.
Gonzalez, who has played six career regular-season games at first base, wore teammate Colin Moran’s mitt and was busy in the first inning, catching a popup between a pair of groundouts. Evans also made a spectacular play at first, with a split and scoop on a throw from third by Ke’Bryan Hayes to get Rob Refsnyder out to end the seventh.
The Twins took a 2-0 lead when Willians Astudillo followed a Miguel Sano double by hitting a two-run homer off Chase De Jong in the second inning.
The Pirates tied it at 2-2 in the third, when catcher Michael Perez hit a leadoff single and Gonzalez homered to left.
The Twins added a pair of runs off Richard Rodriguez for a 4-2 lead in the fourth. Jake Cave hit an RBI triple to drive in Jorge Polanco and scored when Hayes couldn’t handle a hot grounder by Astudillo and was charged with an error.
Bryan Reynolds added an RBI single in the sixth off former Pirates reliever Brandon Waddell, who was claimed off waivers by the Twins, to cut it to 4-3.
The Pirates nearly tied it in the eighth, when Travis Swaggerty singled and tried to score from first on a double to the right-center gap by Liover Peguero. Swaggerty, however, was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
Tzu-Wei Lin homered off Chasen Shreve in the ninth to give the Twins a two-run lead.
