Athletics Take Step Forward, 9-3

Dave Parker doesn’t seem to be enjoying Oakland’s stretch run. To hear him tell it, winning the American League West title is a chore.

“We want to get it out of the way,” Parker said Sunday after his two-run single in the fifth inning helped give the Athletics a 9-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins and put them another step ahead of the Angels. “We just want to get it behind us and go on.”

The A’s could clinch as early as Tuesday.

The A’s victory over the Twins combined with the Angels’ loss at Cleveland put Oakland 5 1/2 games up with a week to play, reducing their magic number to two.

“We’ll go home now and hopefully win the next two and kill the suspense and say, ‘The hell with this,’ ” said Parker, who has batted .324 and driven in 18 runs during the last 17 games. “We’d like to go out and get 27 outs and do it quietly.”

The A’s play their final seven games at home, where they are 49-25. Their 45-36 road record is the best in baseball.

After Parker, who leads the team in RBIs with 95, gave the A’s the lead, Jose Canseco hit a run-scoring single in the seventh, Dave Henderson singled home a run in the ninth and Mark McGwire followed with a three-run homer, his second of the game and 31st of the season.

While Oakland has won with its veteran rotation, the Twins have lost seven of eight, with their four rookie pitchers going 0-6.