MINNEAPOLIS -- After a one-game absence, the Anaheim Angels' potent offense resurfaced Wednesday night.

	Spiezio

Now, the Minnesota Twins know how the New York Yankees felt.

Held to four hits by Joe Mays and Eddie Guardado in Game 1 on Tuesday night, the Angels equaled that total before a batter was retired in the second inning of Game 2.

They finished with five extra-base hits in beating the Twins 6-3 to even the AL Championship Series.

"Our guys have been able to turn the page and go after it all year long,'' Angels hitting coach Mickey Hatcher said.

"Tonight was definitely more the way we played all year,'' said first baseman Scott Spiezio, who had two hits including a bloop double in a three-run second. "We got some nice, solid hits, we also had some that fell in, not well-struck but well-placed.

"That's our style of baseball, that's what we want to do.''

Game 3 in the best-of-seven series is Friday night in Anaheim with 18-game winner Jarrod Washburn pitching for the Angels against Eric Milton in a matchup of left-handers.

The Angels like to talk about putting offensive pressure on the opposition, something they didn't do in Game 1 when they failed to get a leadoff hitter on base and went hitless in 14 at-bats after getting two strikes.

In addition, they were held without an extra-base hit for the first time since July 30 in losing 2-1.

The Angels put plenty of pressure on Rick Reed and the Twins in Game 2, and it started right away with an extra-base hit.

After David Eckstein grounded a two-strike pitch to the mound, Darin Erstad hit an 0-2 pitch into the folded up football seats in right-center at the Metrodome to end the extra-base drought as well as the string of two-strike outs at 15.

"It's kind of hard to explain,'' Erstad said of hitting his first postseason homer in that situation. "You just want to put the ball in play and not strike out.

"It was a two-seam fastball, I just kind of reacted.''

Troy Glaus opened the second with a single to right, going the other way on a 1-2 pitch, to become the first Anaheim leadoff hitter to reach base in its 11th inning of the series.

That set the stage for a three-run inning that included some help from the Twins.

Brad Fullmer and Spiezio followed with doubles, and Eckstein hit an RBI single later in the inning, enabling the Angels to surpass their hit total of Game 1 after only 10 batters.

Eckstein's two-out hit made it 4-0 and came after the Twins botched a rundown. Reed had Adam Kennedy picked off first, and Doug Mientkiewicz chased him between first and second.

Mientkiewicz threw home to try to get Spiezio, but his leg knocked the ball out of catcher A.J. Pierzynski's glove.

"To tell you the truth, it wasn't pretty, it was almost luck right there,'' Eckstein said of his RBI hit, a soft liner to right.

Of Erstad's homer, Eckstein said: "Oh, that was real big. He set the tone for us tonight. It was something we needed. He's been our leader all year long.''

Glaus tripled with one out in the sixth -- again to the opposite field -- and Fullmer followed with a two-run homer, giving the Angels a 6-0 lead and chasing Reed. That gave Anaheim two doubles, a triple and two homers among its eight hits.

The Angels wouldn't score again, but didn't need to because of their bullpen.

The Angels, who led the majors with a .282 average during the season, batted a postseason-record .376 in beating the four-time defending AL champion Yankees in the division series, averaging 14 hits and nearly eight runs in the four games.

And they had 19 extra-base hits including nine homers.

One player who didn't contribute Wednesday night was No. 3 hitter Tim Salmon, who came out of the game in the third because of a tight right hamstring.

He received a cortisone shot and will be re-evaluated Thursday.

"I guess it's day-to-day -- the turf got me,'' said Salmon, who expressed the hope he'll play Friday night. "It's been tight the last three, four, five days.

"Instincts say stay in there. You want to play the next day. I think I got out of there in pretty good shape. I fully believe if I had been on grass, I could have played.''

Salmon, who flied out to right leading off the third, was replaced by Orlando Palmeiro when the Angels took the field in the bottom of the inning.

Salmon is 0-for-5 with a walk in the ALCS after going 5-for-19 with two homers and a team-leading seven RBI against the Yankees.