A single by Michael Cuddyer with two on and sacrifice fly by Henry Blanco made it 3–1 Twins, but Gary Sheffield tied the game with a two-run homer in the bottom of the third.

He added in another run in the seventh by singling home Miguel Cairo, who drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, to make it 5–3 Yankees.

Jacque Jones reached first on a strike three wild pitch from Tom Gordon, then Torii Hunter singled to put runners on first and second in the eighth.

The game went into extra innings and in the top of the 12th, Torii Hunter hit the go-ahead solo home run off Tanyon Sturtze.

Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota Yankees starter Kevin Brown faced Twins hurler Carlos Silva in the crucial Game 3.

Two consecutive hit-by-pitches to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning by Félix Heredia was followed by two singles off Tanyon Sturtze, the second of which by Michael Cuddyer scored a run.

Mariano Rivera relieved Sturtze and allowed a groundout by Jose Offerman and sacrifice fly by Shannon Stewart before Jones grounded out to end the game as the Yankees' 8–4 win gave them a 2–1 series lead.

Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota Javier Vázquez of the Yankees went against Johan Santana of the Twins, who were on the board first with a sacrifice fly by Torii Hunter in the first after back-to-back singles.

The game went into extra innings and Alex Rodriguez doubled, stole third, and scored on Kyle Lohse's wild pitch in the top of the 11th to put the Yankees up 6–5.

Scot Shields relieved Washburn and after Mark Bellhorn struck out, Manny Ramírez hit a three-run home run to make it 8–0 Red Sox.

Garret Anderson reached on Schilling's throwing error before scoring on Glaus's double, but Alan Embree and Mike Timlin held them scoreless for the rest of the game while the Red Sox added run in the eighth on Doug Mientkiewicz's RBI single with two on off Ramon Ortiz.

The Angels would take their only lead in the series when Vladimir Guerrero, the eventual MVP, singled home Jose Molina and David Eckstein with the bases loaded.

Keith Foulke retired the Angels in order in the bottom of the inning as the Red Sox's 8–3 win gave them a 2–0 series lead.

In the bottom of the inning, a single, error and walk loaded the bases before Manny Ramirez's sacrifice fly made it 3–1 Red Sox.

After Pokey Reese forced him and Ramirez struck out, Jarrod Washburn relieved Francisco Rodríguez and David Ortiz hit the series-winning two-run home run over the Green Monster to send the Red Sox to the ALCS for the second straight year.