Minneapolis ? Minnesota finally mustered some momentum, enough even to slow streaking Oakland.

Lew Ford’s triple scored Justin Morneau in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the Twins past the Athletics, 4-3, on Wednesday to end Minnesota’s six-game losing skid and Oakland’s six-game winning streak.

“It was huge,” said Michael Cuddyer, who homered twice. “By the way we celebrated on the field, it was about like we won the World Series.”

That’s what happens when a team has scored only 70 runs since the All-Star break, second fewest in the league, and won only three of the last 13 games. But Morneau drew a walk with two outs against Justin Duchscherer (4-2), setting up the late drama.

Ford’s line drive caromed off the wall in right, barely eluding Nick Swisher’s glove. Swisher gathered himself after crashing into the padding and threw to cutoff man Mark Ellis, who fired home. Catcher Jason Kendall’s tag missed Morneau, who dived headfirst wide of the plate and touched it with his left hand.

“He made a good slide,” Kendall said. “I know I hit the jersey, but I don’t know if it was after he touched the plate.”

Joe Nathan (3-3) pitched a perfect ninth for the victory, one badly needed to lift the Twins’ sagging spirits.

“It was nice to see some smiles in the clubhouse for once,” manager Ron Gardenhire said.

Minnesota's Lew Ford is mobbed by teammates Jason Bartlett (18), Michael Ryan, top, and Nick Punto, right, after he hit a game-winning triple off Oakland pitcher Justin Duchscherer in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Twins beat the Athletics, 4-3, Wednesday in Minneapolis.

Wearing red caps with blue bills in a superstitious search for a spark, the Twins got another sterling start from Carlos Silva – who gleefully discussed a goofy, unintelligible rap song he recently recorded with teammates Johan Santana and Juan Castro.

“It’s our secret weapon,” Silva said. “Our team likes the song a lot. We made it just for the team.”

Whatever works.

“We don’t know where to go from here, but it was a nice night,” said Gardenhire, whose team led the AL wild card race for most of the season until the midsummer slide.

Tigers 10, Mariners 7

Detroit – Chris Shelton homered and drove in three runs, and Placido Polanco added two RBIs as Detroit snapped a five-game losing streak.

Adrian Beltre homered and drove in four runs for Seattle.

Mike Maroth (9-11) allowed five runs and seven hits over six-plus innings for the win.

Indians 7, Yankees 4

Cleveland – Ben Broussard homered to begin Cleveland’s six-run fifth against Mike Mussina, and he ended the rally with an RBI single.

Mussina (10-7) came in 4-0 in his previous six starts against the Indians and lost to them for the first time since April 3, 2000.

Cleveland, which has won five of six, improved to 35-1 when scoring six runs or more.

Devil Rays 8, Rangers 5

Arlington, Texas – Jorge Cantu drove in the tiebreaking run with an eighth-inning single, and Tampa Bay won its season-high sixth straight game. The Devil Rays are 14-5 since the All-Star break and own their longest winning streak since a 12-game run in June 2004.

Rangers starter Ricardo Rodriguez (2-3) retired 11 of 12 batters after Damon Hollins’ fourth-inning homer. But with the score tied at 3, Joey Gathright led off the eighth with a single. He went to third on Carl Crawford’s single off the glove of third baseman Hank Blalock, and Cantu singled through a drawn-in infield for his third hit.

Travis Harper (2-6) pitched 22â3 innings for the win. He allowed consecutive solo homers to Rod Barajas and Gary Matthews Jr. with two outs in the ninth before Danys Baez got one out for the save.

Blue Jays 4, White Sox 3

Chicago – Gregg Zaun hit a three-run double in the first for Toronto, and David Bush won for the second time in three starts since being recalled from the minors.

The White Sox had two runners on in the seventh and eighth but did not capitalize, losing their second straight to the Blue Jays.

Angels 8, Orioles 4

Anaheim, Calif. – Vladimir Guerrero had two run-scoring doubles, and Garret Anderson and Jose Molina each hit two-run singles to lead Los Angeles.

John Lackey (9-4) improved to 3-0 in his last four starts, allowing three runs and eight hits in 62â3 innings. He walked three and struck out seven, including Miguel Tejada his first three times up.