NEW YORK (AP) – Those pesky Minnesota Twins quickly put the big, bad Yankees in another postseason funk.

Torii Hunter circled the bases when his line drive resulted in a pair of misplays and the Twins finally beat New York, defeating the stumbling Yankees 3-1 in Tuesday’s AL playoff opener.

Despite their troubles, the Yankees threatened to pull off yet another memorable ninth-inning comeback. But a spectacular catch by Shannon Stewart helped Eddie Guardado escape allowing only one run, and the Twins beat New York for the first time in 14 tries.

Twins starter Johan Santana left after four innings because of a leg cramp, but Rick Reed, J.C. Romero, LaTroy Hawkins and Guardado cobbled together a nine-hitter that gave the AL Central champions a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

“We have to be aggressive,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We run around the bases hard, try to take extra bases.”

Despite all the playoff preparation, he had to scramble after Santana cramped up in the dugout.

“The one thing you try to do is not show panic to your players,” Gardenhire said.

So he told them: “Here we go, have some fun.”

It was somewhat similar to the night of June 11, when Roy Oswalt got hurt and Houston’s bullpen beat the Yankees in the first six-pitcher no-hitter in major league history.

“We pieced it together as best we could,” Gardenhire said.

New York had rolled over the Twins during the past two seasons, going 13-0 and outscoring them 90-36. But Minnesota wasn’t fazed by Santana’s injury. Hawkins struck out four over two innings for the win, and Guardado hung on for the save.

“We certainly didn’t get a lot of opportunities and when we did, we didn’t get the base hit up until the ninth inning,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said.

Santana had thrown just 59 pitches when he cramped up. The Twins’ bullpen was shocked.

“Wow! What happened,” Hawkins said to himself. “He totally caught the bullpen offguard.”

Eliminated in the first round by Anaheim last year after winning the opener, New York has lost four straight postseason games for the first time since the 1981 World Series against the Dodgers.

In the first early afternoon postseason game at Yankee Stadium since 1981, the Twins showed no fear. Stewart made a leaping catch at the left-field wall to rob Hideki Matsui of an extra-base hit in the ninth – with many fans leaning over to try for a grab similar to Jeffrey Maier’s in the 1996 playoffs against Baltimore.

Bernie Williams, who made the day’s key misplay, had singled leading off the inning, and Aaron Boone followed Matsui’s drive with a one-out double. But Ruben Sierra flied out and, after Alfonso Soriano beat out a run-scoring infield single, Nick Johnson grounded out.

New York repeatedly got tripped up before the sellout crowd of 56,292. In a sign of just how different playoff baseball is, New York played the infield in with a runner at third base in the first inning, escaping the jam when Mike Mussina induced a pair of groundouts.

Minnesota tries to make it 2-0 Thursday night when Brad Radke pitches against Andy Pettitte. During its run of nine straight postseason appearances, the Yankees have won all three first-round series in which they dropped the opener.

Mussina had been 20-2 against the Twins but fell behind in the third when speedy Cristian Guzman reached on a slow roller past the mound, slid into third on Stewart’s single to left and scored on Luis Rivas’ sacrifice fly.

Santana, who led the majors in winning percentage with a 12-3 record, allowed runners in each of the first four innings but didn’t let any get past second. And in the day’s comic highlight, Williams hit a drive to the right-center gap in the fourth and tripped rounding first base, falling on his belly as he wound up with only a single.

Williams was the central figure in sixth, when the Twins padded their lead with a pair of runs.

With Matthew LeCroy on first following a leadoff single, Hunter lined a pitch into center field with one out. In the past, Williams usually would have scooped up the ball, but now 35 and slowed following knee surgery last spring, he allowed the ball to roll by him to the wall.

LeCroy scored from first and Hunter sped to third with a triple on a ball Torre thought “scooted” past Williams. When the relay throw from Soriano went high over third for an error, Hunter wound up coming home on what many kids refer to as a Little League home run.

Many Yankees’ fans in the crowd booed, a reaction that cropped up again in the eighth when Jeff Nelson relieved Mussina and walked his first – and only – hitter.

While the Yankees bumbled, the Twins executed the little things that often turn games played under postseason pressure. Guzman, their shortstop, went down to one knee to throw out Juan Rivera on a bouncer near second base in the third, then ran in to throw out Rivera on a slow roller in the fifth.

New York constantly has shuffled players all season – seven of the players on Tuesday’s roster weren’t with the team on opening day – to try to find the right combination for its 27th Series title. But the Yankees fizzled when they had a chance to get back into the game in the seventh.

Romero walked Matsui leading off and Boone singled off Hawkins. Sierra batted for Rivera and hit into a forceout that left runners at the corners, and Hawkins then overpowered Soriano and Johnson, striking out both.

Notes: The Yankees were much less successful in the daytime, going 35-26 and 66-35 at night. … Jason Giambi was 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts.