OAKLAND — Twins catcher Joe Mauer regained the American League batting lead in Friday’s 12-2 victory over Oakland, going 5-for-6 to raise his average to .324.

“The last couple weeks, I haven’t been feeling that great at the plate, so I just tried to go back to basics, I guess,” Mauer said. “Go up the middle, and it seemed to work out for me.”

Mauer was batting .214 on this road trip but matched a career-high for hits. He also had five hits on June 26, 2006 against the Dodgers.

Mauer’s four RBI also matched a season-high, giving him 66 for the season.

The Twins finished with a season-high 20 hits, including four by Justin Morneau.

“It’s huge,” Mauer said. “Over the last couple weeks, I think we’ve been pressing a little bit to score some runs. And our pitchers have been doing a great job, especially on this road trip, of giving us a chance to win.

“Sometimes you try too hard and come up a little short. I’m glad we had a little bit of a breakout game.”

BRESLOW GETS FIRST SAVE

Craig Breslow notched his first major league save, pitching three innings of perfect relief. He notched three strikeouts and lowered his ERA to 2.37.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “It’s nice to have one under my belt if I never get another one. But more importantly, to be able to eat up some innings and save the back end of the bullpen for [Saturday].”

OAKLAND — The A’s have won back-to-back games for the first time since July 10-11, with a win against the Angels on Wednesday and the Twins on Thursday.

That snapped their longest spell without a winning streak in Oakland history.

Tonight, the Twins will try to keep the A’s from their first three-game winning streak since they won four straight from June 13-17.

Another unseasonably warm day in the Bay Area.

Updates to come…

Update (8:15 p.m.): Alexi Casilla is batting .174 (6-for-34) on the road trip, Nick Punto .387 (12-for-31).

“See if we can get Lexi going,” Manager Ron Gardenhire said. “I like Lexi a lot in the second hole, and I’ll eventually get him back there, but he’s just swinging a little nuts right now.”

Lefties are batting .250 against Dan Meyer and righties .231. Gardenhire said he doesn’t like to keep Randy Ruiz out, but he wants to give Jason Kubel a shot tonight. Sitting Carlos Gomez was another option, but Kevin Slowey is a fly ball pitcher, and Gardy wants his best outfield out there.

The Twins never have faced Meyer. He came to the A’s from the Atlanta organization in the 2004 trade for Hudson. Meyer is 27 now and finally getting a chance in a big league rotation.

Twins (75-59)

1. Denard Span, RF
2. Nick Punto, SS
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Jason Kubel, DH
6. Delmon Young, LF
7. Brendan Harris, 3B
8. Alexi Casilla, 2B
9. Carlos Gomez, CF

Starting pitcher: RH Kevin Slowey (10-8, 3.74 ERA)

Athletics (62-72)

1. Rajai Davis, CF
2. Bobby Crosby, SS
3. Ryan Sweeney, RF
4. Frank Thomas, DH
5. Jack Cust, LF
6. Kurt Suzuki, C
7. Daric Barton, 1B
8. Jack Hannahan, 3B
9. Eric Patterson, 2B

Starting pitcher: LH Dan Meyer (0-2, 5.95 ERA)

McAfee Coliseum. First pitch: 9:05 p.m.

OAKLAND –Three times the Twins have turned to Jesse Crain on this road trip and three times that’s led directly to a loss.

He was in there tonight because Matt Guerrier had pitched three consecutive days and the Twins also were hoping to rest Eddie Guardado, who had pitched in three of the past four.

Dennys Reyes, Boof Bonser and Craig Breslow had all pitched tonight, and Manager Ron Gardenhire prefers to keep Joe Nathan available to protect a lead on the road. At home, he probably would have turned to Nathan for the ninth.

(I know this is a hot-button topic, and there are those who feel Gardenhire needs to answer the question every time the Twins lose a road game that’s tied in the ninth inning or later. But the answer has never changed. If Nathan gets the team through the ninth and 10th, and they eventually take the lead, someone else has to close. Whether you agree with Gardy or not, that’s not how he chooses to play his hand.)

So with a 2-2 tie and a runner on second base in the ninth inning, Crain was all by himself on the mound, with nobody warming in the bullpen.

“Those other people have to get some people out,” Gardenhire said. “Jesse’s gotta get some people out. It just didn’t work out tonight.”

Crain had an 0-2 count to Emil Brown and wound up walking him. (OK to be careful there with a base open, but with two strikes, he has to finish him off, Gardy said.) Then, Crain fell behind Kurt Suzuki 3-1 before grooving a fastball. Suzuki smashed the ball to deep left field, giving the A’s a 3-2 win.

“Another frustrating loss,” Gardenhire said. “We just didn’t put enough runs on the board. Our pitchers gave us a pretty good chance.”

OFFENSE TO BLAME

The Twins hit into four double plays. Several stolen base attempts were nullified by foul balls.

“It looks like we get good jumps, and we’re just panicking at the plate a little bit, fouling balls off,” Gardenhire said. “I think we’re going to have a little talk about that.

“We’ve gotta do a little better job of that stuff and start getting some of those runs in. That’s a lot of pressure on the pitching staff to continue to pitch at that pace, so we need to start scoring more consistently.”

BOOF DELIVERS

One postitive was Bonser, who entered with the score tied in the seventh and retired all four batters he faced, two on strikeouts.

“He felt good,” Gardenhire said. “We like moving him around a little bit and maybe get him in some tighter spots. I don’t know how much tighter you can get than a tie ballgame. We’ll see what we can do. He’s throwing the ball well.”

EXCELLENT ADVENTURE

Apparently, there was a fire that blocked traffic coming over the Bay Bridge from the team’s hotel in San Francisco. Most of the team was at the ballpark ahead of the fire. In typical custom for the starting pitcher, Nick Blackburn waited back and was planning to be at the ballpark about 4:30 (Pacific).

He got on the team’s second bus, along with some club officials, and the driver soon realized they weren’t going to get over the bridge. So they stopped at a BART station and took the train to McAfee Coliseum.

“We got on [the train] and the electricity was out,” Blackburn said. “The lights went out. There wasn’t any air conditioning. People were sweating profusely, and they finally got to this stop, and the doors wouldn’t open for a couple minutes.”

Blackburn arrived about 5:15. He said it was all part of a frustrating day but added, “I don’t think that had anything to do with what happened [on the mound] tonight.”

OAKLAND — Tonight’s game between the A’s and Twins will be one of three in the majors with replay available for the umpires to review home run calls, if the crew chief sees fit.

The Twins are winless in Nick Blackburn’s past three starts, but he’s pitched far better than his 9-8 record indicates.

A surprisingly hot day here in the Bay Area. About 86 degrees and feels even warmer in the sun. Feels good after three chilly days in Seattle.

Updates to come…

Updates (7:30 p.m.): Gardy on replay: “I hope we hit so many off the wall that they have to check 10 of ‘em tonight.”

Twins (75-58)

1. Denard Span, RF
2. Alexi Casilla, 2B
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Randy Ruiz, DH
6. Delmon Young, LF
7. Brendan Harris, 3B
8. Nick Punto, SS
9. Carlos Gomez, CF

Starting pitcher: RH Nick Blackburn (9-8, 3.78 ERA)

* - Typo on Blackburn’s ERA - thanks for the heads up, Ben.

Athletics (61-72)

1. Rajai Davis, CF
2. Bobby Crosby, SS
3. Jack Cust, LF
4. Frank Thomas, DH
5. Ryan Sweeney, RF
6. Daric Barton, 1B
7. Jack Hannahan, 3B
8. Rob Bowen, C
9. Eric Patterson, 2B

Starting pitcher: LH Dana Eveland (8-8, 4.30)

McAfee Coliseum. First pitch: 9:07 p.m.

SEATTLE –Ryan Redmond, 7, was in the Twins’ clubhouse after the game, breaking down one of the more exciting plays of the season.

With two outs in the eighth, and the Twins clinging to a 6-5 lead, Miguel Cairo singled to right field, and Mariners pinch-runner Tug Hulett tried scoring from second base.

Denard Span charged from right field, grabbed the ball on a bounce and threw a no-hop strike to Mike Redmond, who blocked the plate and applied the tag as Hulett tried to slide around him.

“Dad, way to tackle that guy,” Ryan said.

Redmond explained that he didn’t tackle Hulett, but he blocked the plate.

“I would have [tackled him],” Redmond told reporters. “I was fully ready for him to blow me up [with a collision], but it ended up working out.”

As for Span’s throw?

“It was perfect,” Redmond said. “You prepare for short-hop or a ball in the dirt. Anything in dirt is tough.”

Span said he didn’t make a conscious decision to throw the ball all the way to Redmond in the air. He was going on instinct and just let it fly. It’s a play he practices every day under the watchful eye of first base coach Jerry White.

“So many things have to happen perfect when you throw the ball in the outfield,” Span said. “It has to hit the catcher right in the chest, and I can see why a lot of third-base coaches send people.

“The chances of a perfect throw are very slim. It’s one of those times where I hit Red right in the chest, and he put the tag down, and we got the ‘W.’ ”

Note: Lots more coverage in my game story and notebook, including the inside story of Brian Buscher’s go-ahead single and a closer look at Eddie Guardado’s second outing since rejoining the Twins. … I’ll check back with you Thursday from Oakland.