Chicago ? Torii Hunter had a message for the Chicago White Sox and delivered it with a bone-crushing block at home plate: The Minnesota Twins came to town to play old-fashioned baseball.

“My instincts took over. I had to do what I had to do to touch home plate,” Hunter said Monday night after he ran over Chicago catcher Jamie Burke.

Burke headed to a hospital complaining of a sore jaw and having trouble focusing after the Twins beat the White Sox, 6-2, behind strong pitching from Brad Radke.

Hunter said he was just trying to knock the ball loose on Henry Blanco’s sacrifice fly to shallow right in the eighth.

“I wasn’t trying to hurt him. I was just playing the game like you should play the game,” Hunter said. “I’m not a dirty player. I just go out and have fun and play the game. That’s it.”

When Hunter came to the on-deck circle in the ninth, some fans at U.S. Cellular Field gave him an earful and he responded before manager Ron Gardenhire came out of the dugout to settle him down.

Hunter said one fan went over the line.

“It wasn’t grief,” Hunter said. “It was life-threatening. Somebody said they were going to take my life. … I lost it.”

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen had no problem with Hunter’s aggressive play.

Minnesota's Henry Blanco blasts a two-run home run off Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle. The Twins beat the White Sox, 6-2, Monday in Chicago.

“If my players don’t like it, that’s a message. You got to play the game hard. I know if it happened on my side, I’d be high-fiving my players,” Guillen said.

It wasn’t completely clear from replays if Hunter could have scored without running over Burke.

“I know he went out of his way,” said Chicago’s Paul Konerko, who hit his 27th homer.

“He went to the left so he probably made up his mind when he tagged that he was going to do that. Whether that’s bad or cheap, I don’t know the unwritten rule.”

In the opener of the pivotal three-game series, Minnesota won for the eighth time in 10 games overall and pushed its lead over Chicago in the AL Central to 11/2 games.

Radke (7-6) allowed three hits in seven innings and retired the final 16 batters he faced. He did not allow a hit after the second when he gave up Konerko’s homer and a single to Timo Perez.

Blanco, who entered the game in an 8-for-49 slump, hit his sixth homer following Corey Koskie’s triple in the fourth and gave the Twins a 4-1 lead as they solved Mark Buehrle early.

Minnesota collected 10 hits in the first four innings against Buehrle, who was 3-0 against the Twins this season and had beaten them six straight times dating to June, 2003. Buehrle (10-4) entered the game with a 13-4 career record against Minnesota — his most wins versus any opponent.

Red Sox 12, Orioles 5

Baltimore — Pedro Martinez ended a run of frustration against Baltimore, and Boston put on another hitting show.

Martinez (11-4) was pulled with one out in the seventh inning during a steady rain. He allowed five runs on seven hits, walked two and struck out five.

Jason Varitek singled in two runs to cap a six-run third inning against rookie Erik Bedard (4-5) and finished with three RBIs. Gabe Kapler and Manny Ramirez had three hits each for the Red Sox, who have scored 39 runs on 52 hits in their last four games.

Tigers 13, Indians 4

Cleveland — Mike Maroth pitched seven soggy innings, and Detroit got home runs from Carlos Guillen and Marcus Thames.

Thames hit a two-run homer in Detroit’s six-run first inning against Cliff Lee (10-3), and Guillen had a three-run shot when the Tigers added six more in the fifth to open a 12-2 lead. Ivan Rodriguez, who entered the night as the AL’s leading hitter, went 0-for-4 and was the only Tigers starter without a hit on a misty night at Jacobs Field.

Maroth (8-7) rode the run support to his third straight win. He allowed four runs and eight hits. Guillen had four RBIs for the Tigers. Brandon Inge had a career-high four hits with two RBIs.

Yankees 6, Blue Jays 5, 10 innings

Toronto — Tony Clark hit a go-ahead double in the 10th inning, and New York won despite Mariano Rivera blowing his second straight save.

Rivera converted 23 consecutive saves before giving up three runs in an 11-10 loss on Saturday to Boston. He failed to hold a two-run lead in the ninth inning against Toronto, but Clark hit a two-out double off Jason Frasor (3-3), and the Yankees ended Toronto’s three-game winning streak.

Rangers 6, Angels 1

Anaheim, Calif. — Michael Young hit a leadoff homer, Gary Matthews Jr. added a three-run shot, and Ryan Drese earned his first road win of the season for AL West-leading Texas. Drese (7-5) outpitched Kelvim Escobar (5-8), allowing a run and 10 hits over 62/3 innings.

Athletics 14, Mariners 5

Oakland, Calif. — Eric Byrnes had a three-run double and four RBIs, and the Athletics bailed out struggling starter Barry Zito by rallying from five runs down to beat Seattle.

Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak to 18 games, and Justin Leone homered for the Mariners.

Zito (6-7) beat Travis Blackley (1-3) to win for just the second time since June 8.