Twins had rallied from six down minus Hunter

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- As All-Star closer Joe Nathan walked to the

mound in the ninth inning with the Metrodome crowd roaring, the

Minnesota Twins looked to be on their way to a sweep of the New

York Yankees.

Gary Sheffield changed all that with one powerful swing.

Sheffield homered twice and keyed a four-run rally in the ninth

inning Thursday night, sending the Yankees to a seesaw, 13-10 win

over the Twins.

Nathan, who hadn't allowed a run in 29 innings, got Derek Jeter

to ground out leading off the ninth with Minnesota clinging to a

one-run lead. His next pitch was a low fastball to Sheffield, who

somehow reached down and drove it into the left-center seats.

"It was a good pitch," Sheffield said. "It was just a

situation where I was trying to be aggressive. If you get behind in

the count with him, he's lights-out. I was just trying to get on

base and give us a chance to win the ballgame."

Mission accomplished.

"I'm telling you, the pitch that he made to Sheffield wasn't a

bad pitch," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Ninety-four mph,

or whatever, down below the knees and he hit it out. That's just a

pretty good hitter."

Afterward, Alex Rodriguez called Sheffield an MVP.

"I can't see anybody who's played better baseball in the last

four months -- with a bad shoulder to boot. It's been awesome to

watch," he said.

Earlier, it looked as if the Twins would complete an improbable

comeback.

Down 9-3 and minus Gold Glove center fielder Torii Hunter after

he crashed into the fence, the Twins came back and almost swept the

three-game series between AL division leaders.

Shannon Stewart hit a two-out, two-run triple past Sheffield's

lunge in right field, giving the Twins a 10-9 lead in the eighth

and capping a stirring comeback against New York's stellar bullpen.

"He'd fouled off a bunch of pitches and I didn't think he'd be

able to pull one into the gap," Sheffield said. "I just moved

over about two steps and it cost us."

He more than made up for it his next at-bat.

After Sheffield's homer, Rodriguez, just back from a four-game

suspension, followed with a single and a stolen base.

"We were on the road, and you've got to attack," Rodriguez

said. "I like to save my legs, but I think I'll run when the

game's on the line."

That set the stage for Hideki Matsui, who grounded a go-ahead

single.

Later in the inning, pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra had an RBI

single, and another run scored on a throwing error by center

fielder Lew Ford.

Nathan, who still received a polite ovation as he walked to the

dugout, tried to brush off the tough loss.

"It's not about worrying about what you did the previous day.

It's about coming back in and trying to start a new streak," he

said.

Ford entered as a replacement for Hunter, who strained his neck

when he ran into the padded wall while sprinting after Jorge

Posada's double in the fifth. Hunter stayed down on the warning

track for several minutes, left the field on a cart and was day to

day.

Tom Gordon (4-3) got the win despite allowing Stewart's triple.

Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his major league-leading 41st

save.

"I thought we had it when we had a six-run lead the second

time," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "But those things

happen."

The Twins have a four-game lead over Cleveland in the AL

Central. Gardenhire was pleased that his team won a series against

the Yankees after losing 13 straight regular-season games to them

before this week.

Sheffield and Rodriguez homered to help the Yankees build a big

lead going into the seventh, but Paul Quantrill and Gordon couldn't

hold it for Orlando Hernandez.

Luis Rivas hit an RBI double, and Quantrill relieved El Duque.

Stewart followed with a single, and Jacque Jones hit a two-run

double to make it 9-6. Ford's RBI triple chased Quantrill. Justin

Morneau's RBI grounder off Gordon pulled the Twins within a run.

With two outs and runners at the corners in the eighth, Stewart

worked a full count against Gordon before his liner to right-center

barely eluded Sheffield, playing with a painful left shoulder.

"At the last minute, it started to dive, but my mind must have

thought otherwise," Sheffield said. "Maybe if I'd have dived I

would have caught it."

After being outscored 15-4 in the first two games of the series,

the Yankees broke open a 1-all game with a five-run fifth off

starter Carlos Silva.

Posada led off with a drive that Hunter almost caught. But the

three-time Gold Glove winner smacked into the wall and lost the

ball. Sheffield's homer capped the burst.Game notes
The Yankees improved to 8-0 in games started by Hernandez.

... Rodriguez got an inadvertent foot to the face from Jones when

they collided at third base in the sixth. ... On his return from

the suspension, Rodriguez said: "I've missed one game in four

years. I got really nervous watching my team on TV." ... The last

time the Yankees blew a six-run lead and lost was July 14, 2002, at

Cleveland, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.