Playoff position of strength

The Twins turned a season-high five double plays and Scott Baker pitched six strong innings Sunday as the they beat Cleveland 6-1, keeping pressure on Detroit and Chicago in the race for postseason play.

By Joe Christensen, Star Tribune

Last update: September 18, 2006 - 7:40 AM

CLEVELAND - The Twins grabbed a commanding position in the American League playoff race this weekend by taking three of four from the Cleveland Indians the hard way.

Lose the game Johan Santana pitches. Win behind Boof Bonser, Carlos Silva and Scott Baker.

Go figure. But with this team, who would expect anything different?

The Twins could only shrug Sunday after Baker pitched six strong innings in a 6-1 picnic at Jacobs Field.

With two weeks and 13 games to go, they lead Chicago by four games in the wild card race and sit only one game behind first-place Detroit.

In other words, if the Twins go 7-6 to finish the season, the White Sox would have to go 12-1 to pass the Twins and take the wild card playoff spot.

The Tigers and White Sox open a three-game series in Chicago tonight, while the Twins enjoy their first open date since Aug. 28 before beginning a three-game series at Boston on Tuesday.

Yes, life was pretty good for the Twins as they left Cleveland with their eighth victory in 10 games.

But it hardly seemed like a group that will get complacent.

"We're still trying to catch the Tigers," said Jason Tyner, who went 3-for-3 with a walk Sunday. "We'd love to win the division. ... I mean, the analysts keep expecting us to fade, saying, 'We don't have this guy. We don't have that guy.'

"But if you want to look at the truth, this group right here has been the best team in baseball for three months."

Meantime, playing without injured MVP candidate Travis Hafner, Cleveland spent the weekend showing why it has gone from a team that won 93 games a year ago to 69 this year.

Leading 1-0, Indians starter Paul Byrd (9-8) retired the first two batters in the second inning before first baseman Ryan Garko dropped a low throw from Jhonny Peralta on a routine grounder from Torii Hunter.

The Twins had their opening. Phil Nevin singled, and Tyner scored Hunter with another liner to left field.

Then in the third, the Twins scored four more runs with two outs to break the game open.

Hunter drilled a two-run single to left, and Nevin added a two-run single that glanced off rookie third baseman Andy Marte's glove.

By the end, the Twins had turned five double plays, including four behind Baker, who was inducing ground balls instead of the troublesome fly balls that soar over the fence.

"That's what we've been trying to preach to him," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We do pretty good at catching the ball, so hopefully he learned something today about throwing the ball over and letting us catch it."

The Twins' magic number to reach the playoffs is now 10, meaning any combination of Twins victories and White Sox losses totaling 10 assures a postseason berth.

"We've got to take them one game at a time," Hunter said. "If we start thinking ahead, we're going to lose all 13."

That sounded a bit extreme, even for a group that does everything the hard way.

Joe Christensen • jchristensen@startribune.com