OAKLAND -- Eight times this season, the Twins have lost back-to-back games. But time after time, they’ve found a way to avoid losing three straight.

That streak was in jeopardy Wednesday night, when the Twins trailed by a run with four outs remaining, after they had squandered their most promising scoring opportunity of the game. But they fought back and finally broke through in the 12th inning, when Mitch Garver punched an RBI single through the left side against A’s reliever Blake Treinen to push the Twins to a 4-3 victory at Oakland Coliseum.

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Minnesota forced extras on first-time All-Star Jorge Polanco game-tying homer with two outs in the eighth. It was the Twins’ 161st home run of the season, tying the 2018 Yankees for the most homers hit by an MLB team prior to the All-Star break.

"It took a lot,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We’ve played a handful of games already this year similar to this one, where it takes mental fortitude from everybody involved to maintain your composure and continue to play. Our guys did that again. We have been tested in some pretty unique ways this year, some very difficult games.

“For our guys to go out there again and go out there and grind this one out, it's extremely satisfying.”

Before Garver’s heroics, the Twins tied the game on Polanco's homer, weathered two A's rallies in extras and endured a lengthy replay review with the game on the line.

Here’s how it all went down:

The blast

With two outs in the eighth and the Twins trailing, 3-2, Polanco, the club's lone All-Star position player, got a hold of a two-strike changeup left up in the zone by reliever Joakim Soria and clubbed it over the right-center-field wall. It was Polanco's 12th homer of the season and first since June 20.

“The satisfying feeling of coming through and people getting the job done and winning games, it's something you're definitely able to build up going forward, always,” Baldelli said.

The escapes

The Twins went through a tense 10th inning, when Blake Parker walked the first two batters before a fielder's choice put the winning run on third base with one out.

When Mark Canha hit a grounder to third against a drawn-in infield, Miguel Sano’s throw home led to a close play at the plate, with a lengthy replay review unable to definitively show that Chapman’s foot hit home plate before the tag was applied.

Parker struck out Ramon Laureano to preserve the tie and send the game to the 11th. That next inning, Parker again put the winning run on second with no outs, but he again escaped and went on to earn the win.

“Sometimes, I pitch to not give up runs instead of pitching to get outs,” Parker said. “That's a completely different mindset and changes the way that you attack the hitters. To be able to make an adjustment out there and get out of a couple of jams felt good, but it never feels good to put yourself into those jams."

The rally

Thrust into a pressure situation in his return from the injured list, Treinen issued a pair of one-out walks to bring up Garver in the 12th. Though the Twins’ catcher was 1-for-5 with an RBI single before he stepped to the plate for the sixth time, he had been pleased with the quality of his at-bats and was confident in his plan against Treinen.

“I know he's trying to get a ground ball, and I know what I have to do to get the ball in the air, so a line drive works, obviously,” Garver said. “Their infield is so solid, and anything hit to Chapman, you know he's probably going to turn [a double play]. I had to pick my spot to be careful."

Garver got the barrel of his bat on a 96 mph sinker left up in the zone, and he lined it through the left side of the infield to bring Byron Buxton home.

It was fitting that Garver was the hero at the plate, as he navigated the Twins’ pitching staff through not only 12 strong innings on Wednesday, but also 17-inning and 18-inning games over the past two weeks.

“I've had the opportunity to call games and these pitchers that come in, they've continued to deliver for me, they've continued to deliver for the team, they're executing the plan exactly how we need it,” Garver said. “Parker was able to get out of some sticky situations there and get two huge innings for us. Credit to those guys."

The reviews

An unsung hero of the Twins’ victory was replay coordinator Nate Dammann, who made two key calls for Baldelli -- one that set up a Twins rally and one that ended an A’s threat.

In a Twins rally that fell short in the seventh, Dammann astutely noted that Franklin Barreto’s foot came off the second-base bag as he tried to turn a double play on a Jonathan Schoop grounder, setting the Twins up with a pair in scoring position.

In the 12th, when the A’s appeared to have runners on second and third with one out as the Twins looked to close out the game, Dammann and the Twins challenged the call that Jurickson Profar was safe after he tried to take second base on a throw into the infield following a single. Profar was ruled out upon review, as his hand came off the bag during his slide.

“Nate Dammann [was] one of the players of the game today,” Baldelli said. “It was a big night for Nate. He was on the money and was very decisive and did a great job for us. Part of the team.”