Cleveland ? No amount of adversity seems to discourage the Twins.

One day after Minnesota lost rookie sensation Francisco Liriano for the season, Torii Hunter and Rondell White homered on consecutive pitches in the eighth inning Thursday night to help the surging Twins pull within one game of first place with a 9-4 victory against the Cleveland Indians.

“We could have hung our heads, but we kept on truckin’ and won,” Hunter said after driving in four runs to help the Twins to their sixth victory in seven games.

Minnesota moved two games ahead of the Chicago White Sox in the wild-card race and one game behind the faltering Detroit Tigers in the AL Central. The last time Minnesota was only one game back was the second day of the season, April 5.

“We got a little good news that it was nothing major with Liriano and that probably lifted us a bit,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “The guys were fired up.”

General manager Terry Ryan said an MRI showed no structural damage to Liriano’s left elbow, but added the Twins will be ultraconservative with the rookie, who went 12-3 with a 2.16 ERA. “We have to find out why he’s having pain,” Ryan said. “We’re not going to mess around with his future.”

Jesse Crain (4-5) yielded a tying, three-run homer to Andy Marte in the sixth, but worked 11â3 innings for the win.

“After spending four months trying to get back into this thing we weren’t going to let one inning kill us,” right fielder Michael Cuddyer said. “We knew we had a few innings to work our way back, and we did.”

The Minnesota Twins' Jason Bartlett, right, scores ahead of the tag of Cleveland Indians catcher Victor Martinez in the seventh inning of their game at Jacobs Field in Cleveland. Minnesota earned a 9-4 victory Thursday.

Despite going only 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position and stranding a season-high 16 against nine Cleveland pitchers, the Twins improved to 36-36 on the road. Minnesota, with baseball’s best home record at 50-24, plays its next nine games on the road.

“We left guys on base, so what?” Hunter said. “We won. That’s good news.”

Hunter and White each had three of Minnesota’s 15 hits. Both spent time on the disabled list earlier this season for the Twins, who also have been without leadoff hitter and left fielder Shannon Stewart since mid-July.

“We won’t worry about what we can’t control,” Gardenhire said. “We’re playing good baseball, we’re relaxed and having fun. Baseball is supposed to be fun.”

Angels 2, Rangers 1

Arlington, Texas – Jose Molina’s two-run homer in the fifth inning was enough offense for Los Angeles to beat Texas.

The Angels won for the ninth time in 12 games to move within five games of AL West-leading Oakland. Seven of their last 10 games are against the Athletics.

Hector Carrasco (6-3) pitched 22â3 scoreless innings for the win, and Francisco Rodriguez got four outs for his major league-leading 42nd save in 45 chances.

Yankees 7, Devil Rays 4

New Yor – Robinson Cano hit a tiebreaking double in the seventh that sent New York over Tampa Bay.

The Yankees won their season-high sixth in a row and cut their magic number to six for clinching their ninth consecutive AL East title.

Derek Jeter extended his hitting streak to 23 games, Hideki Matsui lined his first home run since missing more than 100 games because of a broken left wrist and Alex Rodriguez had a two-run single.

Rocco Baldelli homered twice and tripled for the Devil Rays in their fourth straight loss.

Red Sox 6, Orioles 5

Baltimore – Mark Loretta singled home the tiebreaking run in the ninth inning and Boston took advantage of nine walks in a comeback victory over Baltimore.

Boston trailed 5-3 before scoring single runs in the seventh and eighth. The Red Sox then took the lead in the ninth against Rodrigo Lopez (9-16).

Keith Foulke (3-1) worked the eighth, and Mike Timlin escaped a first-and-third jam in the ninth for his fifth save.