Twins 5, Red Sox 3

MINNEAPOLIS --Jason Kubel homered for the third straight game, Carlos Silva pitched six-plus shutout innings and the Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox 5-3 Thursday night for a three-game sweep.

After an awful start to the season that sent him to the bullpen for 2 1/2 weeks, Silva (3-8) turned in by far his best outing and stuck the Red Sox with their first four-game losing streak in more than a year.

Joe Nathan struck out Manny Ramirez (for the second time) with a runner on to complete the Twins' first sweep of Boston since 1994.

Boston, which last lost four straight from May 24-27, 2005, missed a chance to move back into a tie for first place in the AL East with New York. Minnesota has won four in a row and six out of seven.

Kubel, whose grand slam in the 12th inning won Tuesday's game, hit a solo shot in the second against Tim Wakefield (4-8). The Twins just chipped away against the veteran knuckleballer, who gave up eight hits, four runs and two walks in six innings while striking out four.

Silva had exceptional defense behind him and even a little luck, when David Ortiz's towering, no-doubt drive in the sixth -- on its way to the upper deck -- hit one of the speakers hanging from the Metrodome's ceiling. The ball fell to the turf for a harmless single, and Ortiz chucked his elbow pad toward the dugout in disgust. Then Ramirez grounded into an inning-ending double play.

The real missed chance for the Red Sox, however, was in the eighth.

With the bases loaded and none out, Nathan -- who recorded his eighth save in as many opportunities -- came in and struck out Ramirez.

Trot Nixon hit a sacrifice fly, Mike Lowell followed with an RBI single to cut the lead to two and Coco Crisp hit a single to fill the bases again, but pinch-hitter Jason Varitek popped out to the foul side of third on the first pitch he saw.

The Red Sox made it 5-3 in the ninth on Ortiz's RBI single with two outs, before Nathan struck out Ramirez to end the game.

Luis Castillo walked in the first, moved up on a passed ball, then a wild pitch, and finally scored on Joe Mauer's groundout. After doubling and coming home on Castillo's single in the third, Jason Bartlett walked in the fifth and later scored on Nick Punto's sacrifice fly to make it 4-0.

That was plenty of support for Silva, who gave up seven hits without a walk and struck out two to win for the first time since May 9. He experienced cramping in his left hamstring in the seventh, when he allowed consecutive singles to start the inning. Juan Rincon relieved and got Crisp and Doug Mirabelli to pop out before striking out pinch-hitter Mark Loretta.

Silva allowed less than four runs in only one of his 10 previous starts and brought a 7.73 ERA into the game. Bartlett and Punto had his back, each making diving stops of sharp grounders, respectively, to throw out Ramirez in the fourth and Alex Cora in the sixth.

Wakefield was probably doomed from the start, since he hadn't pitched since last Friday. That gave him five days of rest, a scenario in which he is 0-7 with a 5.37 ERA this season.

Notes:@ Alex Gonzalez, who was pinch hit for by Loretta, played his 47th straight game without an error. That's a record for a Boston shortstop, breaking Glenn Hoffman's mark from 1982. ... Nathan had not allowed a hit in any of his previous save chances this year. ... Javier Lopez, a sidearming lefty acquired earlier in the day in a trade with the White Sox, made his Red Sox debut in the eighth. He gave up an RBI single to Torrie Hunter.