Morneau Ends HR Drought As Twins Rally

Friday, August 24th 2007, 9:28 pm

By: News On 6

BALTIMORE (AP) _ Justin Morneau ended a career-long home run drought and Jason Kubel homered and drove in three runs, sparking a late rally that carried Johan Santana and the Minnesota Twins past the Baltimore Orioles 7-4 on Friday night.

Minnesota trailed 4-0 in the seventh inning before coming back to hand Baltimore its fourth straight loss. Kubel fueled the charge with a two-run homer in the seventh and a game-tying sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Morneau and Torii Hunter also homered to give the Twins their first three-homer game since July 23, at Toronto. Morneau's home run, his 29th, ended a drought that spanned 28 games and 108 at-bats.

Coming off a 17-strikeout performance against Texas on Sunday, Santana (14-9) gave up three home runs _ only the second time in 27 starts that he yielded more than two. But the left-hander kept the game close enough for the Twins to earn their seventh straight win over the Orioles.

Santana allowed four runs and eight hits in seven innings, striking out seven and walking one.

Joe Nathan worked the ninth for his 28th save.

Miguel Tejada and Nick Markakis homered in the first inning to put the Orioles up 3-0, and Corey Patterson added a solo shot in the sixth for a four-run cushion. But the lead wouldn't last.

Orioles rookie Jeremy Guthrie took a four-hit shutout into the seventh, then gave up a solo homer to Morneau and a two-run drive to Kubel. He left with the lead, but the bullpen cost the right-hander a shot at his first win in August.

The Orioles are 0-4 since manager Dave Trembley received a contract extension into 2008. The skid, Baltimore's longest since he took over on June 18, includes Wednesday's record-breaking 30-3 loss to Texas.

Baltimore's Kevin Millar singled in the fourth inning to extend his club-record run of reaching base by hit, walk or hit by pitch to 51 games. The streak began on June 20.

Minnesota went up 5-4 in the eighth. Morneau hit a leadoff double off Jim Hoey (1-2) and took third on a single by Michael Cuddyer before Kubel hit a run-scoring fly. Three batters later, Alexi Casilla put the Twins ahead with a sacrifice fly.

Hunter added a two-run shot of Danys Baez in the ninth.

Guthrie retired 11 of the first 12 batters before Hunter got the Twins' first hit, a single to right with two outs in the fourth.

In the Minnesota fifth, Kubel was tagged out in a rundown after falling between third and home. In the bottom half, Jay Payton was thrown out by Jason Tyner while trying to score on a Brian Roberts' single to left.

Notes: Radhames Liz will make his major league debut Saturday as Baltimore's starting pitcher. It will be his first game above the AA level. ... Santana has gone at least five innings in 118 consecutive starts since May 23, 2004. ... It was only the fifth time this season that Santana allowed multiple home runs.