MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins knew there would be few stretches on the 2003 schedule harder than this -- 12 games with the A's and Mariners stuffed into back-to-back weeks.
Three-quarters of the way through, they're passing this test with flying colors.
Minnesota swept its brief two-game series from Oakland with a 6-5 victory Wednesday before 23,080 fans at the Metrodome. Twins hitters had just six hits on the afternoon and got all of the runs on home runs by Doug Mientkiewicz, Jacque Jones and Dustan Mohr.
Of their five meetings with the A's, the Twins have won the last four -- all by a one-run difference. They also took two of three from Seattle last weekend at Safeco Field and now enter a four-game series at home with the Mariners.
"It's tough," said Mohr, whose two-run homer in the fourth inning off A's starter John Halama broke a 4-4 tie and proved to be the game winner. "We're facing the same pitching for the last two weeks. They can figure you out. I guess we've had a chance to figure them out, too."
"I can't believe we've been getting these guys," said Torii Hunter, who had a single Wednesday and scored on Mientkiewicz's three-run homer in the second inning.
The Twins' offensive fireworks buoyed their starter, Joe Mays (6-3), who struggled to get through a three-run top of the first inning by Oakland. Mays tossed 36 pitches in the inning and was often hit hard. One-out singles by Scott Hatteberg and Eric Chavez preceded Miguel Tejada's RBI ground-rule double that gave the A's a 1-0 lead. Two other runs scored on Ramon Hernandez's sacrifice fly and an infield hit by Terrence Long.
After Mays gave up a leadoff double in the second inning, manager Ron Gardenhire was close to lifting his starter if another run crossed. But the right-hander retired the rest of the side in order and settled in to give the Twins six innings, with four runs on eight hits allowed with two walks and two strikeouts.
"I thought he really battled his tail off," Gardenhire said. "That was pretty impressive after struggling like he did in the first inning."
Leading off the third, Jones lifted Halama's 2-0 pitch the other way into left-center field. Center fielder Chris Singleton made a long run in an attempt to make the play, but the ball bounced off of his glove and into the first row of seats for a home run and a 4-3 Twins lead.
Singleton gained immediate redemption at the plate in the fourth inning. He was the leadoff batter when Mays dealt him a 1-2 pitch out over the plate. The ball was hit over the fence in right-center field for what was the game-tying homer.
Mohr put the Twins up for good when he took a high fastball from Halama and put it into the left-field seats to make it a 6-4 game. The pitch appeared to be at nearly eye level for Mohr, but the hitter was prepared for it.
"It was up there. I just reacted I guess," Mohr said. "He got a pitch where I was looking."
Halama (2-4) was done after four innings and gave up five earned runs, including all three Twins homers. He allowed five hits without a walk and struck out five.
Erubiel Durazo brought Oakland back to within one run in the seventh with an RBI single off reliever Johan Santana. In the eighth, LaTroy Hawkins gave up a single and a walk before getting the first out. J.C. Romero entered and hit Hatteberg with a pitch to load the bases for the heart of the A's lineup.
Minnesota survived the scare when Romero got Chavez to pop out to the pitcher in foul territory. Tejada ended the inning by grounding out to shortstop. Closer Eddie Guardado allowed a leadoff single by Durazo in the ninth. Hernandez hit a screamer on the AstroTurf to shortstop Chris Gomez, who forced the runner at second with the fielder's choice.
Long lined out to Mientkiewicz, who caught moving pinch-runner Adam Melhuse off the bag for a game-ending double play that gave Guardado his 15th save of the season.
"Is there always supposed to be that much intensity for managers?" Gardenhire wondered after the game.
When playing against the top two teams of the AL Western Division, the answer is usually yes, especially against the A's, who Minnesota defeated in five hard-fought games in the 2002 ALDS.
"Oakland and the Twins, that's pretty good baseball," Hunter said. "Since last year, we've had some clutch hits and tight games. Last year, they got us in the late innings and this year, we're getting those guys. It's always close."
Before going through this part of the schedule, Gardenhire expressed little trepidation about playing Oakland and Seattle over four straight series.
"You know you're going to be in for some tough baseball games," Gardenhire said. "You're playing division leaders. That's the part of the schedule that gets a little ugly and a little mean. You have to get mean yourself. So far, we've handled ourselves OK."