Minneapolis ? The Tampa Bay Devil Rays think they’re starting to come around, and the Minnesota Twins are sure glad to see them go.

Aubrey Huff hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the sixth inning, and the Devil Rays beat the slumping Twins, 5-2, Thursday.

“We’re not out of the woods, believe me, but it’s better,” said manager Lou Piniella, after his team rallied to win a road series for the first time in 12 tries since last Aug. 26-28 at Seattle.

Tampa Bay, held hitless for five innings by Minnesota starter Johan Santana, arrived at the Metrodome this week with the worst road record in the majors — now 6-18 — and took three of four.

The Devil Rays, perennial losers since they began playing in 1998, faced several tough teams to start this season and weren’t enjoying it.

“We had four or five guys hitting in the .100s, the pitchers weren’t throwing well and nothing was going right,” Huff said.

Now, after 10 wins in their last 14 games?

“Everybody’s starting to relax and have a little bit more fun at the ballpark,” said Huff, whose improvement has mirrored his team’s upswing. He has a hit in 12 straight games, with four homers and 12 RBIs in his last seven.

Lew Ford hit a leadoff home run for Minnesota, which has lost 10 of its last 14 — including five of seven to last-place Tampa Bay over the 10 days.

“They’ve given us a tough time this year,” said Santana (2-4), who lost his fourth straight start.

Twins catcher Henry Blanco, left, gets tangled with Tampa Bay's Jose Cruz Jr. after Cruz scored a ninth-inning run. The Devil Rays defeated the Twins, 5-2, Thursday in Minneapolis.

Mark Hendrickson (3-5) got the victory with 6 1/3 solid innings, and Danys Baez worked the ninth for his 10th save in 10 chances.

“It’s good to come out and play good on the road,” Hendrickson said. “It’s something we really haven’t done this year.”

After going 11-2 with a 2.85 ERA in his 18 starts last season, Santana has had a disappointing start to his first year as a full-time member of the rotation. He threw seven shutout innings against Seattle on May 13, but he hasn’t won since. His ERA is 5.50.

“What can you say? He pitched his tail off,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “He just had one bad inning.”

That was the sixth, when Geoff Blum ended an 0-for-20 slump by leading off with a sharp double. Julio Lugo’s two-out infield single cut the lead to 2-1. After Rocco Baldelli hit a single that squeaked through the left side, Huff hammered a hanging slider on an 0-1 count into the football press box to make it 4-2.

“I felt pretty good,” Santana said. “I’m just trying to go out there and do the best I can. I’m not frustrated. … We’re going through a tough time. This game is very tricky.”

Matthew LeCroy singled off Hendrickson’s foot in the fourth and scored on a double by Henry Blanco that fell between Baldelli and Jose Cruz Jr. in right-center field.

Athletics 2, Blue Jays 1, 11 innings

Oakland, Calif. — Jermaine Dye’s sacrifice fly with one out in the 11th inning scored Eric Byrnes with the winning run, and Oakland won its third extra-inning game in as many days. Chad Bradford (3-1) pitched the 11th for the win, and the A’s won their seventh straight at home.

Dye hit a high fly to center off Terry Adams (4-4) to score Byrnes, who doubled and reached third on Scott Hatteberg’s groundout.

Angels 5, Indians 2

Anaheim, Calif. — Raul Mondesi homered and threw out a runner at the plate to help Anaheim beat Cleveland. Anaheim got a two-run triple from Jose Guillen to hand AL ERA leader Cliff Lee his first loss of the season.

Kelvim Escobar (4-2) allowed eight hits over eight innings with six strikeouts. Cleveland’s only run against him came in the seventh, when Ronnie Belliard led off with a bloop single and scored on Alex Escobar’s double-play grounder with the bases loaded. Angels manager Mike Scioscia watched from the clubhouse. He was suspended along with pitcher John Lackey.

Yankees 5, Orioles 2

New York — Gary Sheffield snapped a seventh-inning tie with a two-out double, and Javier Vazquez pitched New York to a victory for another sweep of Baltimore. Alex Rodriguez drove in a run and scored for the surging Yankees, who have won nine of 10 to open a season-high 21/2-game lead over Boston in the AL East.

The Yankees own the Orioles, winning eight straight meetings dating to last season and 45 of their past 62 games against Baltimore.