Woods Richardson leave as Twins decline the option on His contract for next season… See More…

Simeon Woods Richardson stood next to the mound with his hands on his head as he watched a fly ball from Rowdy Tellez carry beyond the center field wall for a home run in the seventh inning Saturday.

Talk about a dispiriting ending to one of Woods Richardson’s better outings. The rookie struck out six, threw the fastest pitch of his career and gave up only one run in his longest start of the season. Except with the way the Twins are hitting, one run is all it took in a 4-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

“Some of this is probably mental at this point, and not just the physical aspect of going out there and trying to hit a line drive,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We expanded too much. They put us ahead in counts. We ended up deep in counts and these are at-bats that … maybe we’re trying to do too much because we’re swinging at some stuff that we shouldn’t be swinging at sometimes.”

The Twins, facing six Pirates relievers in a bullpen game, had only one baserunner reach third base and hit into three double plays. Pirates second baseman Nick Gonzales stole potentially two runs in a scoreless game with an over-the-shoulder, sliding catch in shallow center field to end the seventh inning.

Less than three months into the season, the Twins have had three separate losing streaks of at least five games. They had a 28-inning scoreless drought last month.