FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Twins lost for the sixth time in four days on Saturday. They hope they haven't lost their backup catcher, too.
Steve Pearce and Delmon Young homered for Baltimore, handing the Twins a 5-3 split-squad loss at Hammond Stadium that extended their losing streak to six. Joe Mauer collected three hits, including an RBI double, and Kurt Suzuki doubled home a run.
But the Twins' worry after the game was about Josmil Pinto, who was hit in the head three times in the same at-bat by Adam Jones' looping backswing. The third one knocked him out of the game.
"He didn't look dazed by the first two, but the third one, that was a knockout. It was right on top of the helmet," said bench coach Joe Vavra, who managed the split-squad game. "I went out and said, 'Josmil, you've got to get back. You've got to back up on this guy.' But a catcher's mentality is, they're tough."
Vavra didn't give Pinto an option after the third blow, pulling him from the game when the inning ended a few pitches later. Pinto was evaluated by Twins athletic trainer Dave Pruemer, and Vavra said the team hopes Pinto didn't suffer a concussion. His condition will be evaluated again Sunday.
Tommy Milone allowed four runs over four innings, three of them scoring on Pearce's home run on a curveball. Young added a solo homer off an 81-mile-per-hour slider from Twins closer Glen Perkins in the fifth.
