Twins Get Offensive, Beat A’s

After toiling through last season and the first week of 2006 with frighteningly few runs, the Minnesota Twins’ pitching staff found plenty of support to start its first homestand.

Torii Hunter hit a two-run homer, Kyle Lohse pitched six solid innings for his first win and the Twins completed a three-game sweep by beating the Oakland Athletics, 8-2, on Thursday.

“When your team’s doing that stuff, it makes it easy to throw strikes,” said Lohse, who gave up a two-run double to Frank Thomas in the first but nothing after that.

“It feels good to go out and pick up these guys,” Hunter said, smiling about the way the Twins have erased deficits of at least two runs in each of their four victories.

The Twins went 1-5 on a trip last week while batting only .225, ready to face a team fresh from a sparkling weekend of starting pitching. But both of those trends were quickly reversed.

Oakland gave up 34 hits in the series, after yielding eight during three games at Seattle.

Dan Haren and Esteban Loaiza were each given early leads they couldn’t hold Tuesday and Wednesday, and the same thing happened to Joe Blanton (1-1) in this one.

Blanton, who pitched eight shutout innings and yielded two hits to the Mariners last Friday, gave up four straight hits in the fifth. Shannon Stewart, Luis Castillo and Mike Redmond each hit RBI singles.

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New York 9, Kansas City 3 -- The Yankees got home runs from Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon to complete a three-game sweep of the Royals at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees have won 14 straight home games against Kansas City -- a streak that dates to August 2002. The loss matched the Royals’ record for consecutive defeats in an opposing ballpark, set at Detroit’s Tiger Stadium from August 1987 to May 1990.

Randy Johnson (2-1) was pulled after 87 pitches, but General Manager Brian Cashman said it was not for any medical reason, it was simply a baseball decision.

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Chicago 13, Detroit 9 -- Jim Thome homered in his fourth consecutive game to help the White Sox complete a sweep of the three-game series at Detroit’s Comerica Park, where they are 10-2 since the start of last season.

Tadahito Iguchi also homered and drove in three runs and Alex Cintron had a pair of RBI triples for the White Sox, who have won four in a row.

Despite three hits, including a homer, from Chris Shelton, the Tigers fell to 5-4 after winning their first five games.

Shelton is batting .514 with a 1.297 slugging percentage.

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Toronto 8, Boston 6 -- Vernon Wells hit a grand slam in a six-run second inning and Ted Lilly dominated the host Red Sox at Fenway Park, striking out 10 in seven innings.

David Ortiz homered to make it 8-3 in the eighth -- he has homered in three consecutive games since Boston signed him to a four-year, $52-million contract Monday.

Lilly (1-0) gave up Mark Loretta’s double and then Ortiz’s single in the first inning for his only earned run before settling down and retiring 20 of his last 23 batters. He yielded six hits and did not allow a Red Sox runner to third base after the first inning.

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Seattle 9, Cleveland 5 -- Ichiro Suzuki and Jose Lopez each hit two-run homers to help the Mariners get past the Indians at Cleveland.

The Indians led, 5-3, after five innings, but three Seattle relievers combined to throw 4 1/3 shutout innings, yielding five hits and no walks. The Mariners won the last two games of the three-game series at Jacobs Field.

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Baltimore 6, Tampa Bay 5 -- Melvin Mora hit a go-ahead two-run homer during a three-run ninth inning to lift the Orioles at St. Petersburg, Fla. Brian Roberts cut the lead to 5-4 with a sacrifice fly and Mora’s two-out drive off closer Dan Miceli (0-1) gave Baltimore the lead.

Ty Wigginton homered for the third consecutive game and Travis Lee, Tomas Perez and Jonny Gomes also had solo shots for the Devil Rays, who have 16 homers in 10 games.