Twins Make It a Hat Trick

The Minnesota Twins stumbled into the All-Star break in an awful slump and resumed play against what might be baseball’s top trio of starting pitchers.

Three consecutive wins? The Twins were a little surprised themselves.

Doug Mientkiewicz hit a two-run homer and Matthew LeCroy hit a three-run double in the Twins’ 9-4 victory over Mark Mulder and the Oakland Athletics on Saturday afternoon.

“Man, I can’t believe we beat all three of the big dogs,” said the Twins’ Torii Hunter.

The only other time Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito have lost consecutive decisions was April 27-29, 2001, against the Yankees in New York.

“It’s got to happen sometime,” Mulder said. “It’s not something any of us are thinking about.”

Brad Radke got his first win in 10 starts since May 16 and Dustan Mohr hit a two-run double for Minnesota, which improved to 7-1 against Oakland this season.

Terrence Long hit a two-run homer and Ramon Hernandez also homered for the A’s, who have lost three games in a row for the first time since they dropped six in a row April 10-15.

Mulder (12-7) gave up seven hits, five runs and two walks in six innings while striking out five.

This was only the second time this season he yielded more than four runs and the first time in his last seven starts that he didn’t last seven innings or more.

The Twins, who lost 22 of 28 heading into the break, fell behind, 3-0, against Mulder after taking early leads on Hudson on Thursday and Zito on Friday.

The 2002 Central Division champions rallied often for victories, but this year’s team hasn’t done it much.

The Twins are only 14-40 when their opponent scores first.