Twins 6, Orioles 4: Joe Mauer drove in four runs in a three-hit effort to back another strong start by Phil Hughes as visiting Minnesota avoided a four-game sweep.

Kennys Vargas added a sacrifice fly and an RBI single for the Twins, who finished their road trip with a 2-5 mark. Hughes (15-9) let up three unearned runs and five hits with five strikeouts in eight innings to win for the fifth time in his last six starts, and Glen Perkins notched his 33rd save after giving up Nelson Cruz's major league-leading 36th homer in the ninth inning.

Kevin Gausman (7-7) matched zeroes with Hughes until the sixth before allowing five runs (four earned) in a career-high 7 1/3 innings. Nick Hundley smacked a game-tying three-run shot in the seventh after a big Twins error to pace Baltimore, which saw its lead in the American League East reduced to 8 1/2 games.

Minnesota third baseman Trevor Plouffe misplayed a potential inning-ending double play in the seventh and Hundley took advantage with two outs, depositing a 2-2 pitch into the left-field stands to tie it 3-3. A walk and an error put two men in scoring position in the eighth for Mauer, who greeted reliever Andrew Miller with a first-pitch single to left to make it 5-3 before Vargas lined a base hit to center for a three-run advantage.

Neither team broke through until the sixth, when Danny Santana singled against Gausman with one out and Brian Dozier followed with a base hit to center before Mauer lined a shot off the left-field wall for a two-run triple. Vargas followed with a fly to center to score Mauer for a 3-0 advantage to help Minnesota improve to 24-20 in series finales.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Orioles SS J.J. Hardy left after the seventh with a lower back spasm. ... Baltimore fell to 67-29 when it homers and 41-11 when it does so twice. ... Minnesota returns home Tuesday to host the Chicago White Sox. Baltimore stays at Camden Yards to play Cincinnati.