MINNEAPOLIS – Torii Hunter hit a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning to lead the Minnesota Twins to an 8-5 victory over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.

Hunter drove in a career-high six runs and Justin Morneau also homered and had two RBIs for the Twins, who maintained their seven-game lead over Cleveland in the AL Central standings.

Juan Rincon (11-6) earned the win after getting two outs in the 11th. Joe Nathan got the first out, but had to leave when he tried to field a ball with his pitching hand and cut his ring finger.

Alfonso Soriano and Rod Barajas had two RBIs each for Texas, which dropped 41/2 games behind Oakland in the AL West – the most the club has been out of first place this season. The Rangers are also four games behind Boston in the AL wild-card race.

With two outs in the 11th, Shannon Stewart singled off Carlos Almanzar (7-3) and Jacque Jones followed with an infield single before Hunter hit a 1-0 pitch over the left-field wall for his 18th homer.

With Minnesota leading 5-3 in the fifth, Hank Blalock extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a one-out double. He moved to third on Mark Teixeira’s third hit and scored on Soriano’s RBI fielder’s choice. Kevin Mench added a two-out RBI single off reliever Joe Roa to tie it at 5.

Stewart led off the first with a double, and scored one out later from third on Hunter’s RBI groundout. Morneau followed with a 410-foot home run – his 15th – off Ryan Drese to make it 2-0.

Teixeira hit a leadoff double in the second and Soriano drove him in with a bloop single to make it 2-1.

Hunter hit a two-run double in the third inning and Morneau an RBI single to extend Minnesota’s lead to 5-1.

In the fourth, Barajas hit a two-out, two-run single off Kyle Lohse with the bases loaded to make it 5-3.

Hunter made one of his patented catches in the sixth inning, leaping against the 408-foot sign in center field to rob Barajas of an extra-base hit. Jones made a diving catch in right with two outs in the seventh to save a run.

Notes: The Twins recalled OF Jason Kubel from Triple-A Rochester of the International League. … RHP Joe Mays was scheduled to undergo arthroscopic surgery Tuesday to remove star tissue from his right elbow. Mays hasn’t pitched in over a year due to elbow problems. … Michael Cuddyer was scratched from the starting lineup for Minnesota with neck spasms. … In the last 10 games, Teixeira is hitting .439 (18-for-41).

AP-ES-09-01-04 0005EDT