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.
Matt Guerrier (1-0) picked up the victory 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.
Jason Bulger (0-1) served up the upper-deck shot to Kubel, who singled, doubled and tripled in his first three at-bats before striking out with a runner on third in the seventh.
With Los Angeles leading 9-4, Scot Shields relieved Jose Arredondo with one out in the eighth and gave up an RBI single to Mike Redmond. He walked Nick Punto to load the bases, and then Denard Span drove in two with a double.
Bulger entered and struck out Brendan Harris, who earlier hit a two-run homer, but an intentional walk to Justin Morneau loaded the bases again
- and Kubel made the Angels pay.
Twins starter Nick Blackburn allowed eight hits, four runs and two walks while striking out three.
Angels starter Dustin Moseley gave up two runs in three innings, before elbow stiffness ended his night. He's been filling a rotation spot while Kelvim Escobar, John Lackey and Ervin Santana recover from injuries.
The biggest blow came before the game, though, when cleanup hitter Vladimir Guerrero was placed on the 15-day disabled list due to a torn muscle in his chest.
This has been a draining season for the Angels, and it's only 10 games old.Injuries aren't comparable, of course, to the tragedy of pitcher Nick Adenhart's death. The news that Guerrero, who'd been limited to designated hitter duty, will miss at least a month was just another stinger.
