OAKLAND, Calif. -- Different opponent, same result.

For the third straight year, the Oakland Athletics' season ended in the decisive Game 5 of the AL Division Series.

The previous two years, they lost to the New York Yankees, even though the A's had a better regular-season record. This time, it was the underdog Minnesota Twins, who held on 5-4 Sunday to advance to the AL Championship Series against Anaheim.

The A's, who won a league-record 20 straight games late this season and tied for the major league lead with 103 victories, had a 2-1 lead in the series.

But the Athletics allowed seven unearned runs in the fourth inning of an 11-2 loss Saturday in Minnesota, and seemed much tighter than the Twins on Sunday.

Catcher Ramon Hernandez seemed to epitomize Oakland's struggles on Sunday. Mired in a series-long slump, he failed to move from his position on a foul pop in the sixth inning that fell harmlessly behind the plate.

After losing in the first round to the Yankees in 2000 and blowing a 2-0 lead over New York in the Division Series last year, A's manager Art Howe tried to change things this year by going with a three-man rotation.

Howe figured his three young starters -- Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito -- were as good as any in the league. He also gambled that Hudson and Mulder would be fresh enough to pitch on three days' rest.

But Hudson lasted just 3 1/3 innings on Saturday in Game 4, and Mulder got off to a slow start on Sunday. He allowed eight hits in the first four innings, including a double in each of those innings.

The Twins only got two runs out of those eight hits, and Mulder settled down after that, but Minnesota had a lead it would not give up.

Mark Ellis tried to rally the A's, hitting a three-run homer off Eddie Guardado with one out in the ninth. But Terrence Long flied out and after Randy Velarde singled, Ray Durham fouled out to end it.