By Morris Phillips

In a season where everything’s coming up A’s, it’s often the ex-A’s that make the headlines when the current A’s don’t.

Kurt Suzuki doubled home the tie-breaking run in the eighth inning, and Josh Willingham followed with a two-run homer in the Twins 6-1 win over the A’s at the O.co Coliseum on Sunday. Suzuki and Willingham’s big contributions allowed the Twins to stop a 12-game losing streak to Oakland, dating back to last September.

Despite the loss, the A’s four-game lead in the AL West was preserved when the Red Sox got past the Angels, 3-1 in Anaheim. In that one, former Athletic Yoenis Cespedes provided all the fireworks with a three-run shot for Boston in the eighth inning.

The A’s finished their 10-game home stand against the Royals, Rays and Twins with a 6-4 record. Among the biggest developments during the stretch was the pair of solid outings by newly acquired Jason Hammel after he began his Oakland career with four straight losses.

On Sunday, Hammel pitched into the seventh inning, allowing a run on four hits. But matching Hammel was Minnesota’s Phil Hughes, who pitched seven innings allowing a run as well. Hughes left after the seventh when his cracked nail on his pitching hand preventing him from continuing. But he was the pitcher of record when the Twins rallied in the eighth, and picked up his 12th win.

The Twins broke through against reliever Luke Gregerson, who allowed three hits and three runs. Both pitches thrown to Suzuki and Willingham were grooved, a departure from the streak Gregerson had built allowing no runs and just eight hits in his previous 15 appearances dating back to June 25. The cruelties of baseball math were in effect with the reliever’s poor outing: his ERA on June 25 was 2.43 and he lowered it to 1.81 during his streak, but Sunday’s outing saw the number jump back to 2.26.

The 35-year old Willingham has seen his profile drop since his breakout 2011 season in Oakland, but it did allow him to sign a rich free-agent deal with Minnesota. Suzuki was in Oakland from 2007 until the spring of 2012 when he was dealt to the Nationals. He returned to the A’s for 15 games last season during the playoff push only to sign with the Twins in the off-season.

While Suzuki described the 12-game losing streak as one of those things, in part probably because he contributed to the A’s success in it last September, Willingham was far more conscious of the slide given his comments after the game.

“If we would’ve come in here and lost today, that would’ve been a very big disappointment,” he said. “We needed to get this win.”

The A’s open a seven-game trip in Kansas City on Monday evening with Sonny Gray facing Yordano Ventura at 5:05pm. The red-hot Royals took two of three from Oakland last weekend and are riding a seven-game win streak after sweeping the Giants.