Twins gain postseason; White Sox are ousted
With his blue shirt soaked to the skin and champagne and beer dripping off his goggles, Torii Hunter led a toast in a circle of teammates. Colored bottles raised, the Twins cheered their spot in the playoffs but made clear they're still pushing for the division title.
``It ain't done yet!" Hunter yelled.
Minnesota capped a remarkable turnaround by clinching a wild-card spot last night, beating the Kansas City Royals, 8-1, in Minneapolis behind home runs from Hunter and Justin Morneau.
Boof Bonser came up with another strong start to help the Twins reach the playoffs for the fourth time in five years -- a feat that certainly looked unlikely when they were 25-33 in early June.
Minnesota's win, coupled with Chicago's 14-1 loss to Cleveland, eliminated the defending World Series champion White Sox from contention. The Twins can now focus on the division race, in which they trail the Tigers by one game.
The small crowd of 18,108 at the Metrodome cheered when Chicago's game was final, saving more screaming for the real celebration later.
Indians 14, White Sox 1 -- Cliff Lee pitched seven innings and Casey Blake hit a grand slam -- Cleveland's major league record-tying 14th this season -- as visiting Chicago suffered its worst loss of the year in being eliminated from the AL playoff race.
Mariners 10, Athletics 9 -- Ichiro Suzuki had five hits and scored the winning run, and host Seattle snapped a 15-game losing streak against Oakland and kept the Athletics' magic number at two for clinching the AL West. Oakland leads the second-place Angels by five games with six to play.
Angels 8, Rangers 3 -- Vladimir Guerrero hit two home runs as the host Angels won their third straight.
Padres 6, Cardinals 5 -- Mike Piazza's single snapped a seventh-inning tie as visiting San Diego beat St. Louis. The Padres opened a two-game lead in the NL West over idle Los Angeles with six to play. The Cardinals lost their sixth in a row and saw their NL Central lead cut to 2 1/2 games over Houston.
Astros 5, Phillies 4 -- Mike Lamb's infield single drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh, lifting visiting Houston to its sixth straight win. The Phillies dropped into a tie with Los Angeles for the NL wild-card lead.
Diamondbacks 7, Giants 1 -- Conor Jackson hit a three-run homer, helping visiting Arizona eliminate San Francisco from playoff contention.
Yankees 16, Devil Rays 1 -- Bobby Abreu and Hideki Matsui hit three-run homers in a six-run first inning to spark visiting New York.
Reds 5, Cubs 4 -- Ken Griffey Jr. moved into 10th place on the career home-run list (563) with a three-run, pinch-hit shot in the eighth inning that lifted host Cincinnati.
Nationals 7, Mets 3 -- Tom Glavine was inconsistent in a postseason tuneup and New York lost its final home game of the regular season.
