Twins Rally for Win Over Rivera

Justin Morneau hit a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the ninth inning against Mariano Rivera to lift the Minnesota Twins over the New York Yankees, 6-5, Saturday night for their fifth straight come-from-behind win.

The Twins trailed, 5-4, heading into the ninth with Rivera (0-1), one of the league’s best closers for the last decade, on the mound.

But Luis Castillo beat out an infield hit -- his fourth hit of the game -- to start the inning and advanced to third on a single by Joe Mauer, who reached second when Hideki Matsui threw to third.

Rivera came back to strike out Rondell White and Torii Hunter, but Morneau followed with a lazy, broken-bat single to right, and Mauer raced around third to beat Gary Sheffield’s throw, whipping the more than 42,000 in attendance into a frenzy.

The Twins’ latest -- and best -- comeback of this young season put them above .500 (6-5) for the first time following a 1-5 start. Juan Rincon (1-0) pitched one inning of perfect relief for the win.

Oakland 5, Texas 4 -- Eric Chavez, Frank Thomas and Milton Bradley homered on consecutive pitches against the Rangers’ Vicente Padilla in the sixth inning, and the Athletics broke a four-game losing streak at Oakland.

The last time a team homered on three consecutive pitches was Sept. 29, 2001, when Fred McGriff, Rondell White and Todd Hundley did it for the Chicago Cubs against the Houston Astros’ Dave Mlicki at Wrigley Field, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Chicago 4, Toronto 2 -- The White Sox’s Paul Konerko homered twice at Chicago against A.J. Burnett to spoil the right-hander’s Blue Jay debut.

Burnett (0-1) gave up seven hits and four runs in six innings. He walked one and struck out five.

Mark Buehrle (2-0) pitched eight innings, giving up five hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

Cleveland 7, Detroit 2 -- Fausto Carmona gave up one run in six innings in his major league debut, leading the Indians over the Tigers at Detroit.

The Indians ended a three-game losing streak. The Tigers have lost five of six since a 5-0 start.

Seattle 3, Boston 0 -- The Mariners’ Joel Pineiro (2-1) and two relievers combined on a five-hitter as the host Red Sox continued to slump at the plate.

Tampa Bay 6, Kansas City 3 -- Ty Wigginton drove in three runs as the Devil Rays beat the Royals at St. Petersburg, Fla.