Win Moves Twins Back Into First

The less Torii Hunter tries, the more he achieves.

Hunter keyed a six-run eighth inning with a two-run double at Minneapolis, and the Minnesota Twins defeated the Oakland Athletics, 9-3, Sunday.

“The past two weeks, I’ve been trying to do too much, wanting to be the hero,” Hunter said. “We were winning, and I wanted to be a part of it.”

Minnesota (32-16), off to its best start since beginning 1970 with a 33-15 record, returned to the AL Central lead, a half-game ahead of Cleveland.

Barry Zito (3-4) walked Chad Allen leading off the eighth and hit Doug Mientkiewicz with a pitch.

Mike Magnante relieved. Brian Buchanan advanced the runners with a groundout and Matt Lawton, eight for 17 with four RBIs in the series, was intentionally walked.

“I told the guys that if we get [Zito] out of the game, we were going to score some runs,” Lawton said.

Jeff Tam came in and gave up a two-run double to Hunter that put Minnesota ahead, 5-3.

“I’m just trying to be relaxed and play the game,” Hunter said.

“I’ve been stressing and everything. I just want to make a contribution. I didn’t want to swing too hard, like in the past.”

After Hunter’s double, Corey Koskie was intentionally walked and Luis Rivas hit a two-run double. Allen hit a grounder to first against T.J. Mathews that Olmedo Saenz misplayed as two runs scored.

Minnesota’s Brad Radke was set to become the AL’s first eight-game winner but wasted a 3-0 lead by giving up Eric Chavez’s two-run home run in the seventh and Jason Giambi’s RBI double in the eighth.

New York 6, Cleveland 2--Rookie Ted Lilly struck out six and gave up seven hits in 6 2/3 innings to lead the Yankees at Cleveland.

Bernie Williams homered as the Yankees won for the sixth time in eight games.

Lilly is 2-0 and the Yankees are unbeaten in his six starts. Mariano Rivera got five out for his 14th save.

New York got only six hits in the game but got its first win against Bartolo Colon (4-5).

The right-hander gave up five runs and four hits in six-plus innings. Colon came in 2-0 with a 0.69 in four appearances against the Yankees, but left trailing, 3-2, after walking two opening the seventh.

New York, which won two of three this weekend, also ended Cleveland’s franchise record of winning eight consecutive series dating to April 24-26 against the Angels.

The Yankees have dominated the Indians in Cleveland, winning 27 of 39 games at Jacobs Field.

Boston 4, Toronto 2--Tim Wakefield (2-0) struck out seven in seven innings at Boston, giving up two runs and five hits. Derek Lowe pitched the ninth for his fourth save.

Brian Daubach homered and Carl Everett had three of Boston’s 10 hits as the Red Sox rallied from a 2-0 deficit.

Steve Parris (3-4) gave up four runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings.

The Red Sox celebrated their 100th anniversary before the game, and Nomar Garciaparra, who has been sidelined all season because of wrist surgery, was introduced to the crowd for the first time this year. He got one of the biggest cheers of the day--despite the presence of Hall of Famers Carlton Fisk and Carl Yastrzemski and a few dozen other team greats.

The great players of the team’s history were lined up in folding chairs in front of the Green Monster.

Broadcaster Sean McDonough read their names--Roger Clemens was loudly booed--punctuated by video of some of the great moments in the team’s history.

Conspicuously absent from the video highlights was Babe Ruth, the Red Sox star pitcher who made a bigger splash as an outfielder with the Yankees.

Chicago 3, Detroit 2--Chris Singleton’s sacrifice fly in the 11th gave the White Sox the victory at Detroit.

Sandy Alomar led off the 11th with a double off Danny Patterson (3-2), and Jose Valentin followed with a bunt single.

Singleton hit a low liner to right, and Roger Cedeno made a diving catch, but had no chance to get pinch-runner Josh Paul at the plate.

The win was Chicago’s fourth in a row, including a three-game weekend sweep of the Tigers.

Seattle 5, Kansas City 4--Mike Cameron hit an 11th-inning sacrifice fly off Jose Santiago (2-2) at Kansas City, Mo., as the Mariners won their fourth in a row.

At 36-12, Seattle is 24 games over .500 for the first time in team history.

Dave McCarty tied the score at 4-4 with a one-out home run in the ninth off Kazuhiro Sasaki, whose 19 saves lead the major leagues.

After Roberto Hernandez pitched two hitless innings, Edgar Martinez singled off Santiago (2-2) leading off the 11th, and pinch-runner Charles Gipson went to second on John Olerud’s single.

Bret Boone sacrificed, Ichiro Suzuki was intentionally walked and Cameron drove in the go-ahead run with a flyout to right.

Baltimore 3, Texas 1--Sidney Ponson (2-3) gave up one run and seven hits in seven innings at Baltimore as the Orioles won their fifth in a row.

Baltimore (24-24) reached .500 for the first time since April 11, when it was 4-4.