MINNEAPOLIS -The Minnesota Twins held a season-long countdown celebrating their final season in the Metrodome, commemorated each game by pulling down a number hanging in the left field stands.
During an emotional postgame ceremony on Sunday, Kirby Puckett Jr., the son of the biggest star in Twins history, pulled down the No. 1 sign, supposedly marking the end of the team's 28-year run indoors.
Not so fast, Kirby Jr. There is still at least one game left to play here.
Jason Kubel got the Homer Hankies waving with a pair of three-run homers and Minnesota beat Kansas City 13-4, putting the Twins into a one-game playoff with the Detroit Tigers for the AL Central title.
"It's just not meant for this Dome to be closed yet," Twins center fielder Denard Span said.
The Metrodome will host a one-game playoff between the Tigers and Twins at 5 p.m. EDT on Tuesday. The winner goes to New York to play the Yankees in the first round of the postseason, a game that seemed unfathomable on Sept. 6 when the Twins fell seven games behind in the race.
Even just five days ago, the Twins were three games down with four to play.
The Twins won those final four games to cap a streak of 16 wins in their last 20 games. The Tigers, meanwhile, dropped two of three to the slumping White Sox in Detroit.
"We needed all the help we could get," said Twins left fielder Delmon Young, who hit two solo homers of his own against the Royals. "We knew we'd possibly have to play on Tuesday to make the playoffs. Fortunately the White Sox helped us out with two wins and we kept winning."
Scott Baker will start the tiebreaker for the Twins against Detroit rookie Rick Porcello. The teams get a day off because the Minnesota Vikings host Green Bay on Monday night.
Michael Cuddyer also went deep for the Twins, who got a gutsy performance from Carl Pavano on three days' rest. Pavano (14-12) gave up four runs and struck out seven in 5 2-3 innings.
Luke Hochevar (7-13) walked Span, who stole second, to start the game. Then, with chants of "MVP! MVP!" raining down, he pitched around Joe Mauer with one out and first base open. Kubel followed with an upper deck homer to right field and, two batters later, Young hit a solo shot to make it 4-0. Kubel's second homer made it 7-0.
"We just haven't given up on ourselves," Cuddyer said. "No matter when we were seven games out in early September or three games out four days ago."
Tigers 5, White Sox 3
At Detroit, Justin Verlander earned his 19th win, Ryan Raburn homered twice and the Tigers won to set up a one-game tiebreaker with Minnesota for the AL Central title.
Verlander (19-9) allowed three runs and six hits in 7 2-3 innings. Fernando Rodney got the final four outs for his 37th save.
Yankees 10, Rays 2
At St. Petersburg, Fla., Alex Rodriguez homered twice and drove in an AL-record seven runs in an inning, keying a 10-run burst for the playoff-bound Yankees.
Rodriguez hit a three-run homer off Wade Davis (2-2) in the sixth and added his 18th career grand slam later in the inning. The major league record is eight, set by Fernando Tatis when he hit two grand slams in an inning for St. Louis in 1999.
Reds Sox 12, Indians 7
At Boston, J.D. Drew homered twice and Jed Lowrie hit his first career grand slam for the Red Sox. Dustin Pedroia and Alex Gonzalez also homered for Boston, which begins the playoffs on the road against the Angels on either Wednesday or Thursday.
The defeat was the last with Cleveland for manager Eric Wedge, fired on Wednesday with six games left in the season. The Indians went 1-5 to finish out his tenure, ending with a club-record 15 consecutive road losses.
Angels 5, Athletics 3
At Oakland, Calif., Mike Napoli homered and Joe Saunders pitched five strong innings.
Saunders (16-7) allowed two runs and six hits to lead the AL West champions (97-65) to a three-game sweep. The Angels open the playoffs against Boston on either Wednesday or Thursday.
Mariners 4, Rangers 3
At Seattle, Felix Hernandez finished tied for the major league lead with 19 wins and the Mariners won a season finale that doubled as a daylong tribute to Ken Griffey Jr.
The 39-year-old finished his one-year contract with the Mariners by going 1 for 4. Griffey has said he would be interested in playing another season if the team wants him.
Hernandez (19-5) helped the Mariners finish 85-77 under rookie manager Don Wakamatsu. Seattle became the 13th team since 1901 to finish with a winning record the season after losing 100 games.
Orioles 5, Blue Jays 4, 11 innings
At Baltimore, Michael Aubrey scored the winning run on Brandon League's second throwing error in the 11th inning to give the Orioles a season-ending three-game sweep.
Aubrey led off the 11th with a single and took second when League (3-6) threw wildly to first on a bunt by Lou Montanez. Jeff Fiorentino then laid down a bunt, and League's low throw to first base skipped into the outfield.
Matt Albers (3-6) pitched a perfect 11th for the Orioles, who finished the season with a four-game winning streak.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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