Twins’ Hunter Drills Indians With His Bat

Torii Hunter again said he was sorry for throwing a ball at Danys Baez.

He didn’t apologize for his home run.

Hunter, who drilled Baez a night earlier after getting hit by a pitch, hit a two-run homer and Luis Rivas drove in the go-ahead runs in the seventh inning as the Minnesota Twins rallied Thursday for an 8-6 win over the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland.

Before the game, Hunter told Twin Manager Ron Gardenhire that he had some unfinished business with the Indians.

“He said, ‘I owe them,’ ” Gardenhire said. “I don’t think it’s a vendetta. But I’m sure it felt pretty good for him to be running the bases.”

Meanwhile, Baez, said he didn’t go over to the Minnesota clubhouse after Wednesday’s game to apologize to Hunter for hitting him.

“I’m not trying to be friends,” Baez said. “I just wanted to say, ‘I didn’t mean to hit you.’ ”

Asked if he went over to fight Hunter, Baez said, “I never said that. I was mad.”

Hunter used his bat to get back at the Indians as the Twins erased a 6-2 deficit and swept the two-game series.

Rivas broke a 6-6 tie with a two-run single when the Twins rallied against Ricardo Rincon (1-4) and posted their 28th come-from-behind win this season.

Minnesota’s win, coupled with second-place Chicago’s loss at Kansas City, gives the Twins an 11-game lead in the American League Central--their largest in a division since Sept. 24, 1969.

Milton Bradley hit a grand slam and Ellis Burks homered for the Indians.

Seattle 5, Texas 3--Charles Gipson Jr., who started to give Ichiro Suzuki a night off, put down a suicide squeeze bunt to bring home the go-ahead run in the ninth as the Mariners rallied to win at Arlington, Texas. The Mariners, who have won nine consecutive games in Texas, scored two runs in the eighth on Bret Boone’s two-run single to tie it, 3-3. Shigetoshi Hasegawa (5-1) got the win, pitching a perfect eighth, retiring the top of the Texas lineup.

New York 6, Detroit 5--Shane Spencer hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the eighth as the Yankees won at New York to post their 22nd come-from-behind win. Alfonso Soriano hit a leadoff homer and Raul Mondesi also hit a solo shot for the Yankees, who have won 11 of 15 and lead the Boston Red Sox by three games in the AL East. Jason Giambi’s sacrifice fly off Fernando Rodney (1-3) tied it, 5-5, in the seventh.

Boston 4, Tampa Bay 3--Rickey Henderson and Lou Merloni hit solo home runs and Trot Nixon had a go-ahead single in the eighth inning for the Red Sox at St. Petersburg, Fla. Tampa Bay, on its fourth losing streak this year of five or more games, lost for the 13th time in 14 games.

Kansas City 5, Chicago 3--Michael Tucker capped a ninth-inning rally with a two-run homer and the Royals won at Kansas City, Mo., to stretch a winning streak to seven for the first time in seven years. Kansas City trailed, 3-2, before Carlos Beltran homered leading off the ninth against Mark Buehrle. Paul Byrd (13-6) retired the final 15 batters and tied Boston’s Derek Lowe for the AL lead in wins.

Toronto 5, Baltimore 4--Jose Cruz Jr. homered in a four-run third inning and the Blue Jays held on at Toronto, winning for the sixth time in seven games. Cruz’s 15th homer, a two-run shot off Travis Driskill (6-3), gave Toronto a 3-0 lead.