Ford’s Triple Stops a Pair of Streaks

Lew Ford’s triple drove in Justin Morneau in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting Minnesota over Oakland, 4-3, Wednesday night and ending the Twins’ six-game losing streak and the Athletics’ six-game winning streak.

After trailing the Angels in the American League West by 12 1/2 games in late May, the A’s had used a run of 33 wins in 40 games to move to within one game.

Justin Duchscherer (4-2) walked Morneau with two out. Ford hit a line drive off the wall in right field that barely eluded Nick Swisher’s glove.

Swisher gathered himself after crashing into the padding and threw to cutoff man Mark Ellis, who threw home.

Morneau eluded the tag of catcher Jason Kendall by sliding wide of the plate and touching it with his left hand.

Boston 8, Kansas City 5 -- Manny Ramirez hit his league-leading 30th home run then left after a collision with shortstop Edgar Renteria, but the Red Sox still won their seventh in a row. The Royals are 0-6 on their trip.

Ramirez, who hit a three-run home run in the first inning to increase his major league-leading total to 100 runs batted in, is listed as day to day.

He had bruises on the right side of his face after making the inning-ending catch on a fly ball to short left field in the second inning.

Ramirez and Renteria remained on the ground for several minutes after the shortstop’s left arm hit Ramirez in the face just after the left fielder, racing in while Renteria ran out, reached down to make the catch.

Toronto 4, Chicago 3 -- The win at Chicago put the Blue Jays (55-51) four games over .500 for the first time since May 31 and gives them a chance to complete a three-game sweep of the team with the best record in the major leagues (69-37).

Tampa Bay 8, Texas 5 -- Jorge Cantu drove in the tiebreaking run with an eighth-inning single, and the Devil Rays won their season-high sixth in a row. The Rangers have lost seven in a row at home, their longest skid at Ameriquest Field.

Cleveland 7, New York 4 -- Ben Broussard homered to begin a six-run inning against Mike Mussina (10-7) and ended the rally with a run-scoring single at Cleveland. The Indians improved to 35-1 when scoring six runs or more.

Detroit 10, Seattle 7 -- The Tigers ended a five-game losing streak when Fernando Rodney retired Richie Sexson for the last out with two men on at Detroit. Former Dodger Adrian Beltre homered -- his 14th -- and drove in four runs for the Mariners.