Twins Finally Solve Buehrle

Brad Radke gave up three hits in seven solid innings and Henry Blanco homered off Mark Buehrle to lead the Minnesota Twins over the Chicago White Sox, 6-2, Monday night at Chicago.

In the opener of a pivotal three-game series, Minnesota won for the eighth time in 10 games overall and pushed its lead over Chicago in the American League Central to 1 1/2 games.

Radke (7-6) retired the last 16 batters he faced and did not give up a hit after the second when he gave up Paul Konerko’s 27th homer and a single to Timo Perez.

Blanco, who entered the game in an eight-for-49 slump, hit his sixth homer after Corey Koskie’s triple in the fourth and gave the Twins a 4-1 lead as they solved their nemesis Buehrle early.

Minnesota collected 10 hits in the first four innings against Buehrle, who had been 3-0 against the Twins this season and had defeated them six consecutive times dating to June 2003. Buehrle entered the game with a 13-4 record against Minnesota -- his most victories against any opponent.

And Buehrle’s performance followed one of the strongest starts of his career. Five days ago, he took a perfect game into the seventh inning against Cleveland and finished with a two-hit shutout while facing the minimum 27 batters.

New York 6, Toronto 5 -- Tony Clark hit a go-ahead double in the 10th inning at Toronto, and the Yankees won despite Mariano Rivera’s blowing his second consecutive save.

Rivera converted 23 consecutive saves before giving up three runs in an 11-10 loss to Boston on Saturday. He failed to hold a two-run lead in the ninth inning against Toronto, but Clark hit a two-out double off Jason Frasor (3-3), and the Yankees ended Toronto’s three-game winning streak.

Boston 12, Baltimore 5 -- Pedro Martinez ended a run of frustration against the Orioles, and the Red Sox put on another hitting show to win at Baltimore.

Martinez is 7-1 in his last 12 starts with his only loss Wednesday against the Orioles. He came in 0-2 with a 8.66 earned-run average in three starts against Baltimore this season.

Detroit 13, Cleveland 4 -- Mike Maroth pitched seven soggy innings at Cleveland and the Tigers got home runs from Carlos Guillen and Marcus Thames.

Thames hit a two-run homer in Detroit’s six-run first inning against Cliff Lee (10-3), and Guillen had a three-run shot when the Tigers scored six more in the fifth to open a 12-2 lead.

Oakland 14, Seattle 5 -- Eric Byrnes had a three-run double and four RBIs, and the Athletics bailed out struggling starter Barry Zito by rallying from five runs down to beat the Mariners at Oakland. Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak to 18 games for the Mariners.