updated 1:22 p.m. ET Oct. 7, 2006

OAKLAND, Calif. - Barry Zito did his best to avoid the party, fearing a flying bottle might accidentally cost him a start on his biggest stage yet: the AL championship series.

“I don’t want to get hurt celebrating,” said the soaked left-hander, who has never missed a start.

The Oakland Athletics swept away years of first-round futility, then partied hard enough to make up for all those missed chances and then some.

Milton Bradley homered and threw out Torii Hunter in a disputed play at the plate as the A’s snapped a stretch of nine straight losses in potential playoff clinchers, beating Minnesota 8-3 Friday to reach the ALCS for the first time in 14 years.

The A’s never trailed in finishing off the Twins in three games and will face either the Detroit Tigers or New York Yankees starting Tuesday night.

Marco Scutaro doubled twice and tied an A’s postseason record with four RBIs and Eric Chavez homered as the Athletics won a playoff series for the first time since 1990.

“Unbelievable,” Chavez said. “It’s been a while. We’ve had a lot of chances at it, and we’ve finally been able to do it.”

Dan Haren escaped two early jams to win in his first postseason start and the A’s avoided all of the gaffes that led to their previous postseason flops.

And when closer Huston Street got Luis Castillo to fly out to end it, the A’s rushed onto the field for a big group hug.

Minnesota, meanwhile, again had problems. Even the usually reliable Hunter, a five-time Gold Glove winner, ran into trouble.

“Oakland played mistake-free baseball,” Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer said. “We usually don’t make those mistakes.”

After his ill-advised dive led to Mark Kotsay’s tiebreaking, inside-the-park homer in Game 2, Hunter got thrown out in a key sixth-inning play Friday.

TWINS VS. ATHLETICS Oakland wins series 3-0 A's sweep past Twins with 8-3 win 'Mr. Clutch' comes through once again A’s offer slugger Thomas two-year contract Hunter, Radke disappoint in possible finales Bradley heats up in A's dugout Opinion: New-look A's have attitude Complete series results

Down 4-1, the Twins were rallying when Rondell White hit an RBI single. The speedy Hunter also tried to score on the play and Bradley made a strong throw home. Hunter attempted to avoid catcher Jason Kendall’s tag and reach the plate with his left hand, but plate umpire Mike Everitt called him out.

Hunter and Twins manager Ron Gardenhire argued to no avail, leaving the Twins trailing 4-2. Hunter said afterward that Kendall never tagged him.

“It was tough to swallow watching those guys celebrate,” Hunter said. “We got outplayed. Simple as that. When I saw them jumping up and down it was tough but they deserved it. They outplayed us. I hate it. We hate it. It stunk.”

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Through all his injuries this year, Bradley kept trusting his arm.

“It’s never let me down,” he said. “It has stayed strong and it came through for me today.”

Hunter and Justin Morneau homered for the Twins, who surprisingly won the AL Central on the season’s final day but couldn’t stage the kind of first-round comeback they pulled off against the A’s four years ago — when Brad Radke won the opener and then outpitched Mark Mulder in Game 5.

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