INDIANS Twins are alone at top of division
Cleveland had a 2-1 lead until Minnesota's eight-run sixth inning.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire needed only two words to sum up the Twins' road trip.
"Mission accomplished," he said.
Torii Hunter tied his career high with five RBIs as the Twins beat Cleveland 13-6 on Monday night to move a half-game ahead of idle Chicago in the AL Central.
The Twins went 5-3 on their eight-game trip to take sole possession of the division lead for the first time since June 30.
"We're going home with the lead," Gardenhire said. "We'll see what happens now. This is where you want to be -- in the pennant race at the end. We're excited."
Sox tonight
The Twins, 37-20 since the All-Star break, begin a three-game series against the White Sox tonight, the start of an eight-game homestand.
"It's going to be tough because they are pumped up, just like us," Hunter said. "We can't think of sweeping them. That would be great, but we've got to take two of three."
Hunter, Michael Ryan and Cristian Guzman each drove in two runs during an eight-run sixth. Hunter added a three-run homer in the ninth, giving the outfielder a career-high 99 RBIs.
Minnesota won three straight after losing the series opener.
Johan Santana (11-3) improved to 7-0 in nine starts since July 29 as the Twins won for the 10th time in 13 games. He gave up four runs -- three earned -- and four hits in five-plus innings.
"Santana sat for like about three hours during that big inning, so he had to come out," Gardenhire said. "The pitching was a little shaky, but Torii came up big."
Jason Davis (8-11) allowed seven runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings, dropping to 1-5 in 11 starts since June 29.
Shannon Stewart's RBI double put Minnesota ahead in the third, but the Indians tied it in the bottom half when Chris Magruder hit his first homer since July 21 last year.
Cleveland made it 2-1 in the fourth on a two-out RBI double by Victor Martinez.
Unraveling
A fielding play on an infield single led to the eight-run sixth.
Stewart drew a one-out walk and Luis Rivas, in an 0-for-22 slump, chopped a ball to the side of the mound. Davis stretched out his full 6-foot-6 frame to snare it with a backhand dive, but hit Rivas with the throw to first for an error.
"Jason's a good fielder, but he was overly aggressive and tried to do too much," Indians manager Eric Wedge said.
That play left runners on second and third, Doug Mientkiewicz walked and Jacque Jones followed with a sharp RBI single to right. Rivas was thrown out at the plate by Alex Escobar.
Corey Koskie was intentionally walked to reload the bases, and Hunter grounded a two-run double just inside the third-base line for a 4-2 lead. A.J. Pierzynski then singled home Koskie.
Ryan added a two-run single and Guzman a two-run homer -- both off reliever Rafael Betancourt.
"I made the bad throw, and things just snowballed," Davis said.