Twins, Tigers to meet in one-game playoff

MINNEAPOLIS -- More than 51,000 fans and dozens of players from Metrodome lore turned out Sunday to say goodbye to this big, dingy building after 28 weird, wacky and sometimes wonderful baseball seasons.

Hang on to those Homer Hankies: The Metrodome showed this weekend that it still has some of that old magic left and isn't ready to let the Minnesota Twins go just yet.

Jason Kubel got those familiar white towels waving with a pair of three-run homers and Minnesota beat Kansas City 13-4 Sunday, putting the Twins into a one-game playoff with the Detroit Tigers for the AL Central title.

"The place doesn't want to go away quietly yet," Kubel said.

The Twins and Tigers, who beat the White Sox 5-3, will meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday with the division title and a postseason date with the New York Yankees going to the winner.

"When we need a win, where do we go?" former first baseman Kent Hrbek asked the fans during a postgame ceremony. "We go to the Dome."

They need one more.

Scott Baker will start the tiebreaker for the Twins against Detroit rookie Rick Porcello.

-- AP