Athletics 11, Twins 0
Josh Donaldson and Yoenis Cespedes homered to back six strong innings from Bartolo Colon as host Oakland lowered its magic number for clinching the American League West to two.
Colon (17-6) allowed five hits and a walk with eight strikeouts to win his third straight start. The portly right-hander extended his scoreless streak to 19 innings and helped the Athletics move 7 1/2 games ahead of Texas atop the division.
Alberto Callaspo had two hits and two RBIs while Derek Norris went 2-for-3 and scored three runs as Oakland improved to 11-3 in its last 14 games. Josh Reddick also collected two hits and drove in a run for the Athletics.
Twins left-hander Andrew Albers (2-4) was knocked around for eight runs - three earned - on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings to fall to 0-4 since winning his first two starts with 17 1/3 scoreless innings. He was not helped by a defense that committed four errors.
Cespedes ignited a three-run third with his 25th homer and Reddick had an RBI single before a pair of misplays by right fielder Oswaldo Arcia allowed a third run to score. Oakland pulled away with a five-run fifth, with three runs scoring when third baseman Eduardo Escobar threw wildly past first base, and Donaldson's two-run shot in the sixth made it 11-0.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Donaldson registered his 54th multi-hit performance of the season, the fourth-highest total in franchise history and one shy of Jose Canseco for third place. ... Twins DH Josh Willingham had two hits to hike his career batting average against Oakland to .396. ... Cespedes returned to the lineup after receiving a cortisone injection in his ailing right shoulder on Thursday but will remain as DH for the next few days.