Stunning rally — then hanging on

MINNEAPOLIS — If this is a potential playoff series, it’s shaping up to be a doozy.

The wellmatched A’s and Twins fought through another tense game Saturday at Target Field, exchanging late leads until, with two outs in the ninth, Oakland put together the best rally of the game.

Mark Canha, who’d homered earlier, was hit by a pitch from closer Taylor Rogers. Ramón Laureano, who’d also homered, doubled Canha to third. And Khris Davis, currently inhabiting the sixth spot in the order while he gets his pow

er stroke back, blasted a tworun single off first baseman Ehire Adrianza’s glove to give Oakland a 54 lead. Liam Hendriks nailed down the victory for the A’s, escaping a basesloaded situation with a gameending doubleplay grounder from Mitch Garver.

“They’re a good team,” Davis said. “Every game has been a battle.”

Oakland has won eight of its past nine games and 21 of the past 27 to move into a tie with Cleveland for the top wildcard spot in the American League.

Davis has driven in five runs in the first three games of the series, but Saturday’s weren’t a sure thing — his oppositefield bullet was right at Adrianza, playing between first and second, who couldn’t handle it.

“Relief,” Davis said of his reaction. “And then I saw Ramón hustling around third and thought, ‘Dang, he’s fast.’ ”

Going into Sunday’s finale in the season series, the A’s hold a 42 lead, and with both teams currently in postseason position — the Twins lead the AL Central — this engaging matchup could be something to look for in October, too.

“The A’s always find the players to be able to compete, and this year is no exception,” Twins designated hitter Nelson Cruz said. “Definitely it’s always fun to play against the A’s because they’re always in the race and they always make everything interesting. Both these teams have it within their power to go to the playoffs.”

“Overall, this might be the best team we’ve played all year,” A’s starter Brett Anderson said of the Twins. “Two quality ballclubs, pretty similar in terms of depth chart and how we go about things, and these first three games have kind of shown that.”

Anderson, a sinkerballer, typically doesn’t allow many homers, but he gave up solo shots to Garver and Cruz in the first, then right after the A’s took a 32 lead in the seventh, he gave up a drive well back into the second deck by Miguel Sanó. Anderson then departed with a trainer, knocked out of the game after 81 pitches with what he described as a problem with the nail on his middle finger, which he does not believe will impact his next start.

“It didn’t take a rocket scientist to tell I could only throw a breaking ball for a strike there that last inning,” Anderson said. “I didn’t want to walk (Sanó), I threw it middle and he deposited it. That and the pitch to Garver were really the only mistakes.”

Anderson, who will depart after Sunday’s game for the birth of his first child, a boy, in Phoenix on Monday, had given up more than one homer only once previously this year, and his average of 0.91 homers per nine innings entering the day was eighth lowest in the league. Between Sanó’s firstinning double and his 443foot blast, Anderson faced the minimum number of batters.

Yusmeiro Petit took over after Anderson left and gave up a oneout single by C.J. Cron, then Max Kepler singled off lefty Ryan Buchter, sending Cron to third. He came in on Jonathan Schoop’s flyball to left; Robbie Grossman might have had a chance to get Cron at the plate but way overshot catcher Chris Herrmann with his throw.

The A’s did little against starter José Berríos, but in the seventh, Tyler Duffey walked Marcus Semien and then Canha parked a slider into the seats in left to tie the game 22, providing a stylish bat flip to go along with it. The next batter, Laureano, cracked a homer to center. Laureano has 20 for the season, and since June 12, he has hit 12 homers and driven in 30 runs in 31 games.

“I think Ramón’s the hottest hitter on the planet,” Anderson said.

Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser

Jim Mone / Associated Press Ramon Laureano and Mark Canha celebrate after scoring in the ninth to put the A’s up 54.

Jim Mone / Associated Press A’s starter Brett Anderson allowed the Twins just four hits in his six innings, but three of them were solo home runs.