ESPN.com Oakland/Minnesota recap

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Saturday, May 26 3:05pm ET
Oakland wins first game of two, 5-4

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The Oakland Athletics are getting some weird victories over the Minnesota Twins.


	Oakland's Frank Menechino scores the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the 10th on as catcher A.J. Pierzysnki goes after the ball and pitcher La Troy Hawkins wonders what happened.

Frank Menechino scored the tiebreaking run on LaTroy Hawkins' second wild pitch of the 10th inning, and the Athletics beat the Twins 5-4 Saturday in the opener of the only scheduled doubleheader in the majors this season.

In the second game, Torii Hunter homered twice and hit the game-winning single in the 10th inning to lead the Twins to the split.

Minnesota stopped its first three-game losing streak of the season and avoided falling 1½ games out of first for the first time this season.

In the first game, after Oakland scored twice in the top of the 10th, reliever Mark Guthrie escaped a first-and-third, no-outs jam to preserve the Athletics' ninth victory in 10 games.

"It goes to show we're not going to give up," A's starting pitcher Tim Hudson said. "Today is a big win. It could have gone the other way. It's the little things that win these kinds of games."

The Twins lost for the fourth time in five games and missed a chance to move back into first place in the American League Central as Cleveland lost 12-5 to the New York Yankees. Minnesota lost three in a row for the first time this season.

"We're going to have ups and downs," Twins starter J.C. Romero said. "I'm not going to say we're struggling, but we're not executing the way we were earlier in the season."

Down 5-3 in the 10th, the Twins tried to rally. Matt Lawton's run-scoring single off Jason Isringhausen put runners at the corners with no outs.

Guthrie relieved, and catcher Ramon Hernandez made two big defensive plays. He tagged Denny Hocking at the plate trying to score on Jacque Jones' grounder and caught Lawton stealing third.

"You got to see a lot of action for one inning," Hernandez said.

Guthrie finished for his first save since June 25, 1999.

Reliever Bob Wells (4-2) took the defeat, allowing a walk to Menechino and a single by Jason Giambi that opened the 10th.

Hawkins relieved Wells and threw the wild pitches that allowed Menechino to advance to third base and to score.

Miguel Tejada followed with a run-scoring single for his third hit and third RBI. He also had two doubles.

Giambi had his second consecutive three-hit game. He is 6-for-8 in two games against the Twins and is 9-for-15 in the A's past four games.

Reliever Jim Mecir (2-4) pitched two scoreless innings.

Hudson gave up three runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings. His wild pitch in the seventh allowed A.J. Pierzynski to score the tying run.

Pierzynski hit a one-out single in the seventh. After Luis Rivas struck out, Pierzynski advanced to third on a single by Chad Allen and scored when Hudson threw a wild pitch with Hocking at bat.

Allen led off the Twins' first with a double, but Hudson did not allow another hit until Matt Lawton had a run-scoring double in the sixth.

Romero allowed three runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings for the Twins.

"It's tough to watch," Romero said. "You don't want to see your team lose like that. We have to keep our head up and bounce back."

Tejada hit a two-run double for the A's in the first inning and Giambi had a run-scoring double in the fifth.

Game notes
The teams wore 1901-style uniforms in the opener. The Athletics wore Philadelphia A's uniforms. The Twins wore the uniforms of the Washington Senators. ... The Athletics (24-23) are above .500 for the first time this season. ... The A's have allowed just 26 runs over their last 10 games. ... Oakland designated hitter Olmedo Saenz, mired in a 3-for-28 slump, hit a double in the fifth inning. ... Jones extended his hitting streak to eight games with his second consecutive pinch-hit single.