"We fought our way through it," manager Joe Torre said. "We know there are a lot of distractions in New York. In the postseason, they're magnified."
A rested Yankees team will open the AL championship series tomorrow at home against Oakland or Boston.
"They're the best team in the league," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Somebody has to knock them off."
Wells improved to 9-2 lifetime in the postseason by going 7 2-3 innings for the Yankees, who sent 12 batters to the plate in the fourth and knocked out Twins starter Johan Santana.
Bernie Williams and Hideki Matsui each hit an RBI double, and Nick Johnson added a two-run double. Alfonso Soriano's bloop two-run single made it 6-0.
Derek Jeter later homered for the Yankees. After losing Game 1 at home 3-1, New York outscored Minnesota 14-3.
"They're a confident bunch," Gardenhire said. "If they start hitting, they win a lot of games."
Athletics 4, Red Sox 5
David Ortiz's two-run double in the eighth inning gave the Boston Red Sox a thrilling 5-4 win over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday, and forced a decider in the best-of-five AL division series.
Manny Ramirez, who was 1-for-12 coming into the game, had two hits and scored the go-ahead run.
"I couldn't think of a better time for that to happen, because the clock was running out there," Boston manager Grady Little said. "That was a good time for them to bust loose."
Oakland has lost eight consecutive times when it was just one win from advancing in the playoffs, the longest streak in major league history. To snap that slump, they'll have to beat Boston ace Pedro Martinez after the teams fly across the country for Game 5.
"We feel like we have the driver's seat because we have Pedro going tomorrow," said Red Sox outfielder Johnny Damon, who homered and threw out a runner out at third. "We know Pedro's going to be on."
Scott Williamson pitched two perfect innings for the win, getting Erubiel Durazo to pop up to third base for the final out.
The A's got disappointing performances from two of their best pitchers. Starter Tim Hudson, pitching on three days' rest, left after one inning because of a strained muscle in his left side. Keith Foulke, who led the AL with 43 saves during the regular season, took the loss after allowing two runs on three hits in the eighth.
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