Minneapolis ? Mark Buehrle took another step toward getting his season back on track, and the Chicago White Sox did the same.

Buehrle won his third straight start with a five-hitter, leading the White Sox to a quick 5-1 win over the struggling Minnesota Twins Thursday.

Keeping the Twins from creating any momentum off their 11th-inning comeback win the night before, the White Sox got an early lead for Buehrle and — after a game that lasted just 2 hours, 6 minutes — left with a smile and their first series victory at the Metrodome since September 2000.

“We’d have loved to get a sweep, but two out of three is great,” first baseman Frank Thomas said. “It really is.”

Jose Valentin went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and D’Angelo Jimenez and Aaron Rowand each drove in runs for Chicago, which won for the eighth time in 13 games behind Buehrle’s best outing this year.

“Against a good offensive club, he hit his spots, changed speeds and kept the ball down,” Sox manager Jerry Manuel said. “He was outstanding. We’ve always seen quality, but this time there was dominance.”

Buehrle (5-10) struck out a career-high nine and walked two, losing his shutout on Corey Koskie’s RBI double in the ninth inning.

“The way we’re going now — winning three in a row — sure, it feels good,” Buehrle said. “It always feels different when you’re winning.”

The Twins, losers of four straight series and nine of their last 13 home games, seem to have lost that feel — putting manager Ron Gardenhire on edge.

Chicago's Mark Buehrle delivers against Minnesota. Buehrle tossed a five-hitter as the White Sox defeated the Twins, 5-1, Thursday in Minneapolis.

“We thought we’d come out with a little more fire,” Gardenhire said. “I know Buehrle pitched very well, but it was disappointing the way we went after the game like that. I didn’t think we had much out there. Guys were lobbing balls between innings.

“It’s pretty frustrating to watch.”

Denny Hocking, who singled in the ninth and scored on Koskie’s double that missed landing in the seats by inches, was taken aback by his manager’s comment.

“If he doesn’t think we came to play, he ought to look at the tape and see how Mark Buehrle was pitching,” Hocking said.

Buehrle, who won 35 games over the past two years, gave up a career-high 10 runs against the Twins at the Metrodome in an 18-3 loss May 16. He bottomed out June 11 at home against San Francisco after allowing eight runs in 4 1/3 innings.

Since then, he’s helped pitch the White Sox back into the AL Central race behind Kansas City and Minnesota.

“Our gameplan offensively was the opposite of the way he pitched,” said Dustan Mohr, who had one of the three hits that left the infield. “He really didn’t throw as hard as he normally does. He changed speeds really well.”

For the second straight start, Brad Radke (5-7) turned in a pretty good performance without getting a win — allowing four earned runs and seven hits in eight innings.

Sandy Alomar singled up the middle with two outs in the third, and Jimenez hit a long fly to left-center that Jacque Jones and Hunter converged on but couldn’t get to. Hunter unsuccessfully tried to make a backhanded stop, and the ball trickled far enough away to allow Alomar to score on the double.

Athletics 13, Rangers 0

Arlington, Texas — Scott Hatteberg, Eric Chavez and Terrence Long all homered in the third inning, and Tim Hudson pitched three-hit ball for seven innings as Oakland routed Texas.

Juan Gonzalez was out of Texas’ starting lineup for the third straight game. The two-time AL MVP is considering whether to accept or reject a trade that would send him to the Montreal Expos.

Miguel Tejada and Ramon Hernandez also homered as Oakland hit a season-high five home runs and equaled a season-best with 13 runs. The Athletics had 15 hits.

Blue Jays 13, Orioles 8

Toronto — Carlos Delgado homered twice to increase his American League-leading total to 25 as Toronto beat Baltimore. Delgado tied his season high with five RBIs and now has driven in a major league-best 86 runs. The slugging first baseman hit a two-run shot off Rodrigo Lopez in the second inning. The ball hit off the top of Windows restaurant in center field, giving Toronto a 8-6 lead. Delgado’s two-run homer in the eighth off Buddy Groom made it 12-8.

Yankees 4, Devil Rays 3

St. Petersburg, Fla. — Jason Giambi and Raul Mondesi hit two-run homers to back the pitching of Mike Mussina and give New York a victory over Tampa Bay. Newly acquired reliever Dan Miceli made an immediate contribution as the Yankees won the last three of the four-game series to maintain their two-game lead over Boston in the AL East.

New York has won 11 of 13 since being no-hit by the Houston Astros June 11 and improved the league’s second-best road record to 27-13.

Mussina (10-4) allowed two runs and eight hits, struck out five and walked none before being replaced by Miceli with the tying runs on base with one out in the bottom of the eighth.

Mariners 10, Angels 6

Anaheim, Calif. — Edgar Martinez set the Seattle club record for career RBIs with a two-run homer and Bret Boone also hit a two-run shot as the Mariners beat Anaheim.

Martinez and Boone each had three hits and Randy Winn drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a double during a five-run sixth inning. The AL West-leading Mariners took two of three from the defending World Series champions, who are 13 1/2 games back. Seattle, which dropped two of three at San Diego last weekend, is the only team that has not lost back-to-back series this season.

Martinez, a six-time All-Star who leads all designated hitters in this year’s balloting, now has 1,153 RBIs — one more than Ken Griffey Jr. had before he was traded to Cincinnati in February 2000. The home run off Ben Weber was Martinez’s 15th.

Red Sox 6, Tigers 4

Boston — Pedro Martinez earned his first win in four starts and Trot Nixon drove in three runs as Boston beat Detroit, completing a four-game sweep. The Red Sox outscored Detroit 30-8 in the series. Boston won its fourth in a row and sent the Tigers to their sixth straight loss.

Leading 6-1, Martinez (5-2) struggled in the seventh when the Tigers scored three times, the last on Kevin Witt’s single off Alan Embree.