Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano delivers during a Spring Training game against Minnesota Friday afternoon. Liriano breezed through two innings as the Pirates and Twins played to a 2-2 tie.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Pittsburgh left-hander Francisco Liriano breezed through two innings on Friday, and the Pirates tied the Minnesota Twins 2-2 in nine innings.

Liriano struck out the first four batters he faced. Ryan Sweeney hit a soft liner to second baseman Josh Harrison and John Ryan Murphy grounded out.

Liriano, who likely will start on opening day, threw 23 pitches.

“I’m trying to work on everything now - fastball, changeup, slider,” he said. “Everything feels good.”

Harrison singled and scored on Starling Marte’s two-out triple against Tommy Milone in the first.

The Twins’ first hit was Eduardo Nunez’s leadoff triple in the fourth off Neftali Feliz. Nunez scored on Kennys Vargas’ single.

Gregory Polanco went 3 for 3 for Pittsburgh, and John Jaso went 2 for 2.

Starting time

Twins: Milone gave up one run and four hits in two innings. He struck out three.

It was the first time Milone worked with Murphy, a catcher who was acquired in a November trade with the New York Yankees.

“He was calling pitches I would’ve called myself, so it was pretty seamless,” Milone said. “It’s not that hard. If everything’s working, I just go with what the catcher puts down.”

Reunion on hold

Twins DH Byung Ho Park did not make the trip, so he wasn’t able to catch up with Pirates 3B Jung Ho Kang. They were teammates with the Nexen Heroes in the Korea Baseball Organization.

“I told (Park) I respect their friendship,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “We’re playing (the Pirates) five times, so I didn’t feel it was an urgent thing to get accomplished on our third day. They’ll have their day down here, just not today.”

Kang is recovering from leg surgery and is not yet playing in games.

New position

Sean Rodriguez, a utilityman who played mostly at first base last year, started at third. Rodriguez is the top replacement candidate if Kang begins the season on the disabled list.

“I’ll do what I’ve got to do to be ready,” Rodriguez said.

Injury report

Pirates: RHP Gerrit Cole, who was slowed at the start of camp by rib inflammation, threw his first round of live batting practice.