ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Brad Radke hopes his struggles against the Texas Rangers are over for good.

The Minnesota right-hander effectively mixed his slider, curveball and changeup to keep the Rangers off-balance in the Twins' 5-4 victory Sunday.

	Brad Radke, who finally found a way to beat Texas, has a 2.25 ERA in his last two starts.

Radke began the day with a 1-7 record and a 4.77 ERA against the Rangers, 0-5 with a 6.06 ERA at The Ballpark in Arlington.

"Finally," Radke said. "I wouldn't say that it's over, but it's good to get a win here. That's a lineup that can hurt you in so many different ways. This was definitely one of my better games."

Radke (2-2) got 18 outs on ground balls to help the Twins to their second victory in the three-game series. Radke allowed three runs and nine hits in eight-plus innings.

"His change, slider and curve were all working," Twins manager Tom Kelly said. "He was able to get some double-play balls (three) when he needed them. He gave us a big boost and an opportunity to win a series, which hasn't happened for us much against a team like the Rangers. You feel pretty good with him on the mound."

Radke cruised through the first eight innings before allowing a double to David Segui and walking Ruben Mateo to start the ninth.

Bob Wells relieved and got two outs before Royce Clayton hit a three-run homer to right-center field, his third of the season, capping a 4-for-4 day.

After Luis Alicea doubled, Wells got Jason McDonald to ground out to second for the reliever's third save.

"I may have worn him out in the eighth," Kelly said of Radke. "The Rangers wear you down. You could see he was starting to falter some in the eighth. "

In his previous start, Radke allowed one run and six hits over eight innings, retiring 24 of the 31 batters he faced in a 3-1 victory over Kansas City. He has a 2.25 ERA in his last two starts and hasn't allowed more than two walks in any of his first four starts.

"It was a clinic on pitching," Segui said. "He's smart, he keeps you off balance and he never gives you the middle of the plate. He's especially tough with a man on third."

Texas had beaten Minnesota 13 straight times before the weekend series. The Twins have won five of six overall.

Ivan Rodriguez's eight-inning RBI single ended Radke's bid for his fourth career shutout.

Texas has lost six of its last seven and is 1-5 on the current homestand.

"It's easy to make excuses," Rangers manager Johnny Oates said. "The last six days, we didn't get a whole lot of breaks. And we've done some things that haven't been very pretty, a lot of little breakdowns."

Minnesota's Matt Lawton drove in two runs and went 3-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 10 games, matching his career high.

The Twins scored three runs in the fifth against Darren Oliver (0-1). Cristian Guzman had an RBI single and Lawton had a two-run single.

Butch Huskey's sacrifice fly in the eighth pushed Minnesota's lead to 4-0.

Oliver allowed four runs and nine hits in 7 1/3 innings. He struck out two and walked three.

Denny Hocking's RBI double in the ninth made it 5-1.

Game notes
Texas third baseman Mike Lamb singled in the third in his first major league at-bat. Lamb also committed his first error, throwing high to first on a sixth-inning grounder. ... Lawton has hit in 10 straight games three times in his career. ... Texas' Rafael Palmeiro had a rare triple in the fourth. Palmeiro has one triple in each of the last three seasons. ... The Twins hit into four double plays. ... Minnesota's Jason Maxwell had his first three-hit game, going 3-for-4. ... Texas is 0-8 when scoring fewer than six runs. ... Clayton is 8-for-11 since being moved out of the leadoff spot.