AP Photo Pittsburgh Pirates' Oneil Cruz slides into home plate past Minnesota Twins catcher Alex Jackson scoring on Henry Davis' single in the fifth inning of Sunday's game in Pittsburgh.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Braxton Ashcraft struck out 11 in six innings, Ryan O’Hearn and Nick Gonzales homered, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the skidding Minnesota Twins 9-3 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.

Ashcraft (5-2) allowed two runs and five hits with no walks, sending the Twins to their fifth straight defeat.

Brooks Lee had a two-run homer in the sixth and a solo shot in the ninth for Minnesota.

O’Hearn returned from the injured list and hit a leadoff homer in the second his first time up. Jared Triolo singled in Oneil Cruz to make it 2-0.

Gonzales’ two-run homer in the third extended the margin to 4-0.

Mike Paredes replaced Minnesota starter Zebby Matthews (1-3) with one out and runners on second and third in the fifth. Gonzales and Cruz drew back-to-back walks, the latter of which scored Brandon Lowe, and Henry Davis hit a two-run single that capped the Pirates’ five-run inning and made it 9-0.

Matthews gave up seven runs and struck out seven in 4 1/3 innings.

Josh Bell had two hits for Minnesota.

Up next

Twins RHP Joe Ryan (3-3, 2.94 ERA) is scheduled to pitch Monday in the opener of a series against the Chicago White Sox, who hadn’t announced a scheduled starter.

Pirates RHP Bubba Chandler (1-6, 4.85 ERA) takes the mound Tuesday against Astros RHP Mike Burrows (3-6, 5.40) to open a three-game set in Houston.