(Best E Casino) - The concept of interleague play has always drawn a mixed reaction throughout baseball. It's safe to say the Minnesota Twins are in favor of the idea.

The surging Twins take aim at their eighth consecutive victory tonight, when the red-hot club resumes a three-game series with the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

Each one of Minnesota's seven straight wins has come at the expense of a National League team. The Twins swept three-game sets from both Washington and Arizona prior to Tuesday's 3-1 decision over the lowly Padres.

The teams were deadlocked at 1-1 after eight innings, but Brendan Harris and Brian Buscher slugged back-to-back solo homers off San Diego closer Trevor Hoffman (1-5) in the top of the ninth.

The homers made a winner of Dennys Reyes (2-0), who recorded the final out of the eighth inning. Joe Nathan then shut the door with a perfect ninth to seal Minnesota's latest victory.

Justin Morneau went 2-for-3 for the Twins to extend his hitting streak to 12 games. The standout first baseman is batting .375 (18-for-48) with one homer and 15 RBI during his tear.

Twins starter Kevin Slowey and Padres ace Jake Peavy battled valiantly through six innings, with neither factoring in the final outcome.

Slowey fanned seven and allowed just four hits in six scoreless innings of work. Peavy was almost as effective, lasting six frames and giving up just one run on five hits with six strikeouts.

Adrian Gonzalez had two hits for the Padres, losers of three straight and seven of their last eight contests, while Chase Headley knocked in the team's lone run.

Minnesota is now 10-3 in interleague play this season and an impressive 116-89 all-time against the NL.

The Twins, now on their longest win streak since an eight-gamer from July 14-21, 2006, will try to keep their run going tonight behind Glen Perkins. The young left-hander is coming off one of the best starts of his career this past Thursday, when he held Washington to three runs over a personal-best eight innings in a 9-3 Minnesota win.

Since being called up from the minors in early May, Perkins has compiled a 3-2 record with a 4.39 earned run average through nine starts, although opponents are batting .312 against him this season.

The reeling Padres counter with the ageless Greg Maddux, who has pitched tremendously over the past month despite having very little to show for it.

Maddux has yielded two earned runs or less in each of his last seven starts, having posted a stellar 2.14 ERA over that stretch. However, the future Hall of Famer also has not recorded a win during that time, with six no-decisions and one loss to his credit.

The 42-year-old was once again the victim of bad luck and poor run support on Friday, when Maddux limited Detroit to one run and five hits over seven innings. He left with a 2-1 lead, but the Tigers scored once against the San Diego bullpen in the top of the eighth to tie the contest.

Maddux has faced the Twins only once during his decorated 23-year career. That came at the Metrodome on June 10, 2002, with the four-time NL Cy Young winner allowing five runs and 10 hits in a seven-inning no-decision.

These teams had split six lifetime meetings prior to last night's clash. The Twins took two of three from the Padres in San Diego back in 2003.