MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Kevin Brown entered surrounded by questions. He left making an emphatic statement.

The temperamental righthander allowed a run in six superb innings and Derek Jeter had three hits and three RBI as the New York Yankees routed the Minnesota Twins , 8-4, and took a two games to one lead in their best-of-five American League Division Series.

The 39-year-old righthander, who has endured a rocky first season in New York, rewarded manager Joe Torre for his faith. After the Yankees lost Game One at home, Torre tabbed Brown over a gimpy Orlando Hernandez and inconsistent veteran Javier Vazquez for Game Three.

After New York rebounded to win Game Two, Brown put the Yankees within one victory of their seventh AL Championship Series appearance in nine seasons with a gritty effort. He allowed a solo homer to Jacque Jones in the opening inning but settled down thereafter.

Making his 12th career postseason start, Brown (1-0) allowed eight hits but did not walk a batter. He struck out only one but improved to 3-0 with a 0.98 ERA in four career Division Series appearances.

"I'm very happy with the results, obviously," Brown said. "I think the guys were probably scared enough watching me pitch today so they scored a lot of runs. I think it was a motivating factor for them."

"It was huge," Torre said of Brown's performance. "All the question marks were 'will he be able to take the ball and get out there?' Once he gets out there, he knows what he's doing. He had to work hard, but it was certainly a game when you consider that (Minnesota's Johan Santana ) is pitching tomorrow, it was really an important game for us."

Brown did admit that he continued to battle himself physically.

"Obviously there's things I can't do now that I've done in the past, but ultimately its not how you get them out, as long as you get them out," Brown said.

"Each inning you try and not let them score. As a pitcher, you like to have such dominant stuff that you can walk out there and cruise along and make it look easy. If you have to battle and work your way out of situations with guys on base, as long as you keep them from scoring, then you know you've done a job for your team."

Plagued by back and stomach problems during the season, Brown had logged just 5 2/3 innings over the last month after breaking his left hand - reportedly punching a wall after an outing against the Baltimore Orioles . As recently as a week ago, Brown's status on the postseason roster was up in the air, but he came through with his best performance since August 5.

"Brown was great," Jeter said. "When Brown's healthy he's one of the best in the league. Brown doesn't give up too many homers. He pitched out of a jam in the second. He did extremely well, just what we expected."

Brown was backed by Jeter, who had an RBI single in the second and a two-run base hit in the sixth. Bernie Williams added a two-run homer and Hideki Matsui a solo shot for the Yankees, who pounded out 14 hits.

"Jeter's a great competitor," Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez said. "To see him on an everyday basis, you see that. You don't always get to see that as an opponent."

Jones' homer staked Carlos Silva (0-1) to an early lead, but the converted reliever struggled mightily, allowing six runs and 10 hits in five innings. Making his first career postseason appearance, Silva had surrendered a total of 13 runs in his last eight regular-season outings.

"It was crazy," Silva said. "I think I gave them some cheap hits. I think I really only made one mistake in the game and that was the ball Bernie hit out. Every hit was a ground ball. They just got through the holes. I had some good pitches and I felt good tonight."

Minnesota fell to 0-5 all-time in Game Threes of the AL Division Series.

Game Four is Saturday with the Twins hoping that their ace Santana can force a decisive Game Five. Santana, who throttled New York in Game One, has not lost a game since July 11. The Yankees counter with Vazquez, who will be making his first career postseason appearance.

"We've got Johan going tomorrow and we all know how good he's been," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "That's important. And then we have (Brad) Radke going back to New York, were packing our suitcases and finishing this thing up in New York where we started."

"It's still a big challenge with Johan tomorrow," Williams said. "I think they will come back and play their best baseball. It is all or nothing for them. They will come out swinging."

The winner of this series will host the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS beginning Tuesday.

Jones hit his second homer of the series in the first, but the Yankees put together a two-out rally in the second as Jorge Posada , John Olerud , Miguel Cairo , Kenny Lofton and Derek Jeter strung together singles for a 3-1 lead.

"The second inning was the game," Silva said. "They got those three runs and I think only one ball was hit hard. The rest of the hits were in the holes. It's disappointing because I did not help my team. I don't think I threw that bad."

Brown worked out of a jam in the second, striking out Michael Cuddyer with runners at the corners and retiring Henry Blanco on a lineout with runners in scoring position.

Brown got Cuddyer again in the fourth, stranding runners at first and third.

"He looked like early we were going to be able to gets some hits off him," Gardenhire said. "As the game went along he made some adjustments. He moved the ball in and out. He's a pretty good competitor and he makes the ball do some good things. He knew what to do with a lead. He did that."

"Brown is good," Twins center fielder Torii Hunter said. "We were getting hits but he was getting the pitch he needed at the right time. He was good tonight. Better than everybody was saying."

Protecting that 3-1 lead, Brown got some breathing room in the sixth as Matsui singled and Williams hit his 20th career postseason homer, a shot just over the right field wall.

Posada singled and J.C. Romero came on for Silva. Olerud walked, Cairo got down a bunt and Jeter greeted rookie reliever Jesse Crain with a two-run single for a 7-1 lead.

Minnesota ran itself into a pair of outs in the sixth and Matsui made it 8-1 with a blast that was in Hunter's glove until the center fielder hit the wall and popped into the stands.

"I was about to go back to the dugout, but saw all the guys telling me to run," Matsui said through an interpreter.

Paul Quantrill got three of the four batters he faced in the seventh and recorded two outs in the eighth before Felix Heredia got Justin Morneau to bounce out. But in the ninth, Heredia hit Corey Koskie and Lew Ford before Tanyon Sturtze allowed singles by Cristian Guzman and Cuddyer.

Torre wasted no time going to star closer Mariano Rivera , who blew a save in Game Two. Rivera allowed a run-scoring groundout and sacrifice fly before retiring Jones on a ground ball to third.