Craig Monroe homered three times against his former team Thursday, powering the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

Monroe hit solo shots in the second and third innings off Scott Baker. In the sixth, he hit a two-run homer off reliever Kevin Mulvey.

“Some days, you just can’t explain,” Monroe said. “I’m working on a process, some things that I really feel will give me a chance to take some good swings. To go out today and see the process and the plan work, it’s gratifying.”

Monroe leads the Pirates with six home runs. He’s gone deep in three straight games.

“We helped Craig Monroe make the (Pirates),” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “I’m happy for him. He looks like he’s really worked hard this winter, and he killed us today.”

Monroe was cut by the Twins in August after batting just .202 in 58 games. This offseason, he signed a minor league contract with the Pirates and is trying to win a bench job during spring training.

“That guy … he’s always been a Twin killer,” Baker said with a chuckle. “I don’t know why that should change.”

Monroe’s first homer off Baker came on a fastball, the second was on a curveball.

Monroe has a .253 batting average and 112 homers in six seasons with the Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers and Twins.

Realizing his days as a starter likely are over, Monroe reworked his swing in the offseason. With the aid of Texas hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo, Monroe cut out his left leg kick.

“Being a bench guy, you can’t have that high leg kick because of the timing,” Monroe said. “I feel like I’m in a great hitting position and I can see the ball early now. My balance is better. If my role is to be a guy off the bench, I feel like I’m more equipped for that role now.”

Right-hander Vigil Vasquez pitched the first three innings for the Pirates. He gave up two hits and got one strikeout.

Rays 3, Phillies 2: Troy Percival pitched a hitless inning in his first action of spring training, and Tampa beat Philadelphia.

The 39-year-old closer is coming back from an injury plagued season. He made three trips to the disabled list because of hamstring and knee injuries and missed most of September and the postseason because of a lower back injury that required surgery in November.

Chad Tracy homered and Miguel Cairo went 2-for-3 for Philadelphia.

Prospect injured: Boston Red Sox prospect Jonathan Van Every left an exhibition game against St. Louis after spraining his right ankle running the bases in the fifth inning.

Van Every, the ninth-place hitter, pulled up while going from first to third on Josh Reddick’s two-out single Thursday.

Braves 6, Nationals 2: Daniel Cabrera was happy with the way he pitched Thursday for Washington in a loss to Atlanta. It was his hitting that made him giddy.

Cabrera, who struck out 14 times with the Baltimore Orioles over the past five seasons, singled to right in his first spring training at-bat with Washington.

The right-hander sent the ball into right field with an awkward swing and almost fell as he loped to first base. Cabrera then scored on a two-run double by teammate Ryan Zimmerman, nearly getting run over by Lastings Milledge, who was scoring behind him.

For the Braves, left fielder Brandon Jones had two hits and two RBI. Jason Heyward hit his second homer of the spring in the seventh inning. First baseman Freddie Freeman and second baseman Omar Infante had two hits apiece. Milledge had two hits for the Nationals.

Braves third baseman Martin Prado hit what appeared to be an opposite-field single to right in the second inning, only to have right fielder Austin Kearns charge the ball and throw him out at first when Prado was a little too casual running down the line.