Oakland, CA (My Sportsbook) - For the third consecutive season, the Oakland Athletics will play a fifth and deciding game in the American League Division Series when they tangle with the Minnesota Twins this afternoon at the Coliseum.

Oakland had a chance to put a bow on this series on Saturday, but the Twins avoided elimination with an easy 11-2 victory at the Metrodome. First baseman Doug Mientkiewicz belted a two-run homer and added two hits during a seven-run fourth inning, helping the Twins to their 12th home win in 14 postseason games.

Torii Hunter finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI for the Twins, who banged out 12 hits, while Mientkiewicz singled twice, drove in a run and scored once in the fourth-inning uprising, which was aided by two errors, a pair of wild pitches and a hit batsman. Five of the seven runs in the frame were unearned.

"With this group, it seems like our backs have been against the wall since we were born," said Mientkiewicz.

Eric Milton, making his first career postseason start, worked seven innings to earn the victory, permitting only two runs on six hits with one walk and three strikeouts.

"Milty did what we needed to have done," stated Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "It was a great performance."

Miguel Tejada hit a two-run homer and Jermaine Dye went 3-for-3 for the A's, who have had their season stopped in each of the last two years in Game 5 of the ALDS. In 2000, Oakland suffered a 7-5 defeat at the Coliseum against the New York Yankees, while the Bronx Bombers, at Yankee Stadium, were also on the winning end in Game 5 in 2002, posting a 5-3 victory to become the first team in baseball history to win a five-game series after losing the first two games at home.

"Hopefully, Game 5 will be switched around this time," said A's third baseman Eric Chavez, who finished 1-for-4 on Saturday and is hitting .353 in the five- game set. "But we were playing the Yankees before -- that's a lot different. You can throw the last two Game 5s out of the equation. This is a whole different team, a whole different year."

Tim Hudson suffered the loss after surrendering seven runs -- two earned -- on five hits in 3 1/3 innings. He walked two and fanned four. Ted Lilly took over for Hudson and yielded four runs on seven hits in 3 1/3 innings.

"Gosh, a lot of things happened, but it came down to pitching and not executing pitches," explained Lilly, who has permitted a total of six runs on 10 hits over just four innings in a pair of appearances in this series.

Mark Mulder gets the call today for the Athletics, who are hoping to advance to the AL Championship Series for the first time since 1992. Mulder, who will be pitching on three days' rest, toed the rubber in Game 2 of this series and earned the win after surrendering one run on five hits over six innings in a 9-1 triumph. He walked a pair, whiffed three and yielded a homer to Cristian Guzman, while throwing 90 pitches.

The victory was the southpaw's seventh in a row, including the regular season. After going 9-5 with a 3.99 earned run average in the first half of the year, Mulder went 10-2 with 3.08 ERA following the All-Star break to finish with a 19-7 record and a 3.47 earned run average. He has not lost since August 11 to the Yankees and will be making the fourth start of his career in the playoffs.

In a pair of outings in the ALDS a season ago, Mulder finished 1-1 with a 2.45 earned run average. However, the 25-year-old hurler was tagged with the defeat in Game 5 at Yankee Stadium after allowing four runs -- two earned -- on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Lifetime, Mulder is 5-2 versus Minnesota, including the win in Game 2 of this series. He battled the Twins three times during the regular season, going 1-1 with one complete game and a 2.16 ERA.

Minnesota will respond with Brad Radke, who started Game 1 of this series and picked up the win after permitting five runs -- one earned -- on eight hits in five innings of work. He walked one and struck out three as the Twins overcame an early 5-1 deficit with two runs in the third and three more in the sixth.

The veteran righthander, who has been with the Twins since 1995 and is hoping to lead them to their first appearance in the ALCS since 1991, started only 21 games this season because of a strained groin that forced him to spend time on the 15-day DL. After returning to the rotation on August 3, Radke was 5-3 with one complete game and a 4.32 earned run average in 11 tries.

For his career, including the postseason, the 29-year-old Radke is 7-10 versus Oakland. He squared off against the A's twice during the regular season, going 1-1 with a 1.20 earned run average. Over 15 frames, Radke permitted a total of three runs -- two earned -- on 13 hits. The loss was at the Coliseum on August 30, when he allowed three runs over six frames. Seven days later in Minnesota, the 1998 All-Star authored a six-hit shutout to stop Oakland's AL-record, 20- game winning streak.

The A's won the season series by a 6-3 margin, including four victories in six attempts at the Coliseum. Oakland compiled a 54-27 mark at the home during the regular season, while Minnesota was 40-40 on the road this season. Its 40 road wins were the lowest among the eight playoff teams.

The winner of this game will face off with the Anaheim Angels in the ALCS. The Angels pounded the Yankees on Saturday by a 9-5 score to win their first-ever postseason series, taking the set three-games-to-one.