MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -When the Angels chose to walk the bases full to face him, Jason Kubel stayed calm.
He let the first pitch go by for a strike.
Then he sent the next one into the upper deck with a smooth, easy left-handed swing to complete the cycle and give the Twins the lead with his fifth career grand slam.
Kubel hit for the ninth cycle in Twins history, finishing the feat to cap a seven-run rally in the bottom of the eighth inning and lift Minnesota past Los Angeles 11-9 on Friday night.
Jason Bulger (0-1) intentionally walked Justin Morneau to load the bases, a move that will fire any batter up.
“They’re going to have to start respecting him, man, as a hitter,” said Denard Span, whose two-run double cut the lead to 9-7. “The guy had 20 home runs last year, but keep walking Morneau and pitch to him and you’ll get your feelings hurt.”
Kubel singled, doubled and tripled in his first three at-bats before striking out with a runner on third in the seventh. After Mike Redmond’s RBI single sparked the rally in the eighth, pulling the Twins within four, Nick Punto walked to load the bases before Span’s double. Bulger entered and struck out Brendan Harris, who earlier homered, but Kubel made the Angels pay for putting Morneau on.
The 26-year-old outfielder has been frustrated with himself for not doing more to help out the lineup this month, now that he’s been hitting behind the 2006 AL MVP.
“It used to really fire me up, and I used to get myself out,” Kubel said. “So I just stayed calm and just knew what the circumstances were and just went from there.”
Joe Nathan pitched a perfect ninth for his second save, punctuating a wild night at the Metrodome that started with 7 1/2 innings of more bad baseball by the home team. The Twins have been behind in all 12 games, rallying to win five, while keeping manager Ron Gardenhire plenty busy. He’s written out 12 different lineups and made almost a month’s worth of trips to the mound this week with his pitching staff struggling to get in a groove.
Matt Guerrier (1-0) won in relief after having a hand in a five-run, two-out rally by the Angels in the seventh that gave them an 8-3 lead. The Twins were beat up by the Toronto Blue Jays earlier in the week, and after Thursday’s lopsided loss Gardenhire urged his players to stay positive and stay together.
“To come back and get that win after being down like that, that’s exactly what we talked about last night,” Gardenhire said. “There’s no quit. These guys are going to play. It’s a nine-inning ballgame, and they played a full nine.”
6, Blue Jays 5
Derek Jeter broke an eighth-inning tie with the Yankees’ fifth solo home run, and New York beat Cleveland for its first win at the new Yankee Stadium
Johnny Damon, Mark Teixeira, Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano also connected as New York avoided dropping the first two games at its new home. Cano become the first player to reach the new stadium’s second deck.
Jeter led off the eighth against Jensen Lewis (1-1) with his third homer of the season.
A crowd of 45,101, about 7,000 short of the listed capacity, saw Brian Bruney (2-0) win in relief of Joba Chamberlain, who threw just 46 of 93 pitches for strikes and gave up five runs, six hits and five walks in 4 2-3 slow-moving innings.
Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth to convert his third save in three chances.
Athletics 8, Blue Jays 5
In Toronto, Matt Holliday hit a go-ahead RBI double in the seventh inning, Bobby Crosby drove in three runs and Oakland beat Toronto.
Andrew Bailey (2-0) struck out four in two scoreless innings to earn the win. Michael Wuertz and Santiago Casilla each got three outs before Brad Ziegler worked the ninth for his third save.
ter off Brandon League (1-1).
Rays 6, White Sox 5
In St. Petersburg, Fla., Ben Zobrist hit a pinch-hit grand slam and Carlos Pena homered for the fifth time in six days to help Tampa Bay past Chicago.
Right-hander James Shields (2-1) recovered after giving up sixth-inning home runs to Carlos Quentin and Jermaine Dye to win for the second time since an opening-day loss. He allowed five runs and seven hits, struck out four and walked two in 7 1-3 innings.
Zobrist hit his slam off Matt Thornton (0-1) after the Rays loaded the bases with two outs against White Sox starter Bartolo Colon. The shot into the left-field stands wiped out a 5-2 lead that Chicago took when Quentin hit a solo homer and Dye followed with a two-run shot.
Red Sox 10, Orioles 8
In Boston, Jason Bay and J.D. Drew homered to help Boston overcome a seven-run deficit.
Bay broke an 8-all tie with a sacrifice fly off Danys Baez (0-1) in the eighth inning. Drew’s two-out triple in the fifth sparked a three-run rally in which Nick Green’s two-run double tied the score at 8-8.
Ramon Ramirez (1-0), one of five Boston pitchers who combined for six scoreless innings in relief of starter Brad Penny, earned the victory with 1 2-3 innings. Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his third save.
Is to provide much of the offense for the Orioles, including a second-inning grand slam that gave the Orioles a 7-0 lead.
Royals 12, Rangers 3
In Arlington, Texas, Gil Meche pitched into the seventh without allowing a run, and Mark Teahen went 5-for-6 with a homer.
Meche (1-0), who had an 8.10 ERA his previous eight starts at Rangers Ballpark, held Texas to six singles, including a bunt by Ian Kinsler. The Rangers were held scoreless until Hank Blalock and Marlon Byrd hit back-to-back homers in the eighth that cut their deficit to 10.
Coco Crisp added a three-run homer in the inning to make it 4-0 against Matt Harrison (0-2).
Mariners 6, Tigers 3
In Seattle, Felix Hernandez survived early struggles and surging Seattle used a five-run fifth inning to win for the seventh time in eight games.
The Mariners, who lost 101 games last season, improved to an AL-leading 8-3 and tied the franchise’s best 11-game start.
Seattle was scoreless and hitless through four innings while taking pitches from Justin Verlander (1-1), who had allowed 11 runs in his first two starts.
Hernandez (2-0) allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings. Brandon Morrow finished the ninth for his third save.
ar-old Ken Griffey Jr. from first in the eighth.
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