MINNEAPOLIS -- In one fluid motion during the seventh inning, Henry Davis rotated 180 degrees, reared back and flicked his bat towards the third-base dugout, putting enough arc on the lumber to where it landed on the warning track and almost rolled down the steps.

Davis’ frustration-filled bat toss summarized a night in which the Pirates went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position, paving the way for a 5-1 loss to the Twins on Friday night at Target Field.

“We had opportunities to score and we didn’t capitalize on them,” said manager Derek Shelton.

Along with the game-wide issue of bringing home runners in scoring position, the Pirates also went 0-for-10 in that scenario against Pablo López, specifically, unable to capitalize on the myriad of opportunities they had against the All-Star pitcher.

In the first inning, the Pirates put runners on first and second with no outs. Ji Hwan Bae advanced to third base after Ke’Bryan Hayes flew out to right field, putting runners on first and third with one out. In the third, Alika Williams started the frame by smoking an opposite-field double, putting a runner on second base with no outs. In the fifth, the Pirates had runners on first and second with one out, second and third with two outs and the bases loaded with two outs. In none of these scenarios did the Pirates score. In no scenario did Pittsburgh scratch across one run against López.

“You’re talking about a guy that’s got 150 innings and 180 punchouts," Shelton said. "We had him in situations that we wanted him in and we did not capitalize. When you have run scoring opportunities -- we had multiple early in the game -- we’ve got to at least put the ball in play.”

In the aforementioned seventh inning, Pittsburgh had, far and away, its best opportunity of the game. With López’s evening over, the Pirates pounced on Minnesota’s Caleb Thielbar. Williams led off the inning with a walk, Bae hit a towering double off the right-center-field fence and Reynolds drove in Williams with a single up the middle. In a span of three batters, the Pirates cut their deficit to two runs and knocked Thielbar out of the game with the heart of the order due up.

By inning’s end, the Pirates still had just the one run to their name.

Hayes popped out to foul territory. Jack Suwinski struck out looking. Davis struck out swinging. Inning over. In the bottom half of the frame, the Twins scored two runs to extend their lead to four, negating the little progress the Pirates made in the top half.

Suwinski’s struggles, in particular, are worth keeping tabs on. This month, Suwinski is 4-for-49 with 24 strikeouts (41.6% strikeout rate). Nine of those strikeouts have been looking, bringing him up to league-leading 52 called strikeouts on the season. While Suwinski doesn’t chase pitches often and draws walks at a high clip (96th percentile in both chase rate and walk rate entering play on Friday, per Statcast), Shelton cited the need for Suwinski to be aggressive with runners in scoring position.

“I know he’s got a good eye, I know he walks, but he’s going to have to be a little bit more aggressive in those situations,” Shelton said.

“Obviously, you've got to have a little bit better approach to put the ball in play, move the ball forward there,” Suwinski said. “It's just something I wasn't able to execute really today.”