"I thought it was going to hit a speaker," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "It was a bomb."

It saved the Twins' bullpen from bombing. Starter Nick Blackburn pitched well into the seventh inning, though a series of well-placed ground balls produced three Angels runs in the fifth.

"I was getting ground balls; that's what I'm trying to do. They were good pitches," said Blackburn, who gave up eight hits and left with the score tied 3-3. "If I could feel like that every time I pitch, I'd be extremely happy. That's the best I've felt in a long time."

But the bullpen continued its rough stretch.

For the second straight night, Twins relievers allowed the opposition to bat around in the seventh inning, and the Angels' five-run inning seemed to put the game out of reach at 8-3. But the Twins answered with a run in the seventh and erupted with their biggest inning of the season in the eighth, a seven-run outburst that allowed them to win for just the second time in a week.

"It's not easy when things aren't going your way," Gardenhire said. "But they kept getting after it in the dugout."

They victimized the Angels' bullpen the way Los Angeles did theirs. Cuddyer beat out an infield hit, and Joe Crede drew a one-out walk. Mike Redmond followed with a run-scoring bloop to right that made his manager proud.

"That little donk counts as much as the blast," Gardenhire said. "If Redmond doesn't the get the donk, that's another out."

Span followed with a two-run double to right-center, slapping his hands in celebration as he arrived at second.

"I'm not going to say I knew we were going to come all the way back, but (his double) sparked us a little bit," Span said. "You could feel it in the stadium."

Bulger relieved Scot Shields and struck out Brendan Harris, who had homered in the third inning and driven a sacrifice fly to center in the seventh that required a vintage jumping catch by Torii Hunter. That brought up Morneau, whom the Angels didn't dare pitch to.

"That's why we have Kubel behind him. That's exactly why," Gardenhire said. "If they pitch around him, we feel that Kubel can step up."