Minneapolis, MN (Best E Casino) - Jason Kubel clubbed a pair of homers and drove in three runs to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 9-3 win over the Chicago White Sox in the opener of a critical three-game series at the Metrodome.

Delmon Young finished 3-for-3 with a home run and two RBI for the Twins, who trail the front-running White Sox by 1 1/2 games in the AL Central. Nick Punto and Carlos Gomez each had two hits and knocked in a run.

Scott Baker (10-4) got the win after he allowed one run on five hits in seven solid innings.

"These guys are really aggressive and I was able to get ahead of hitters with the breaking pitches," said Baker.

Ken Griffey Jr. belted a two-run homer for Chicago, which has dropped four of its last six contests. The home run was the 610th of his illustrious career, moving him ahead of Sammy Sosa into sole possession of fifth place on the all-time list.

Javier Vazquez's (12-15) struggles continued in the Metrodome, where he entered play with a 1-4 record and 5.68 earned run average in six career starts. The right-hander was tagged for five runs on seven hits in just four innings of work.

"We played a bad game all around," said Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen. "Baker threw the ball real well."

The White Sox got on the board in the second. Jim Thome singled to begin the inning, moved to third on a base hit by Paul Konerko and crossed the plate when Griffey rolled into a 4-6-3 double play.

Minnesota quickly responded in its half of the second on Kubel's 19th home run of the season, which followed a leadoff walk to Justin Morneau.

Kubel made noise again in the fourth, leading off the frame with a stand-up triple. Young then slapped an RBI double tight to the line in right and later scored on a bunt single by Punto, who swiped second and scampered home on Gomez's run-scoring single for a 5-1 Twins lead.

Chicago had the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth, but A.J. Pierzynski grounded out to thwart the rally.

Joe Mauer lined a single off Clayton Richard to open the bottom half, and Morneau followed with his 47th double of the season, breaking the club record set by Marty Cordova in 1996. Brian Buscher's sacrifice fly made it a 7-1 game.

Kubel and Young clubbed back-to-back homers with one out in the seventh off Boone Logan.

In the ninth, Konerko drew a two-out walk and came around to score on Griffey's home run, a blast to right.

Game Notes

Mauer extended his hitting streak to 12 games...Morneau has 129 RBI this season, one shy of his career-high set in 2006...Minnesota improved to 50-26 at home...Griffey's home run was his second with the White Sox and gave him 17 for the season...Chicago's Mark Buehrle (14-11) and Minnesota's Nick Blackburn (10-10) are scheduled to start on Wednesday.