Cleveland, OH (Sports Network) - Jason Kubel went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer to help Minnesota snap its six-game losing streak with an 8-5 win over the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field.

Justin Morneau added three RBI, while Alexi Casilla, Mike Lamb and Michael Cuddyer each plated a run in the middle installment of the three-game series. Nick Blackburn (5-4) recorded the victory after allowing two runs on seven hits while fanning five in his six-inning start.

Paul Byrd (3-6) failed to reach the fourth inning in a rare loss to Minnesota, getting touched for six runs -- five earned -- on six hits and a walk to snap the club's two-game winning streak. In Byrd's previous seven starts against the Twins, the veteran went 5-1 with a 2.82 earned run average.

"I started rushing a little bit out of the stretch and just could not get the ball down," Byrd said. "I just couldn't make the pitch. It was like a pinball machine. Balls just got out of hand, flying all over the place really quick and that was it."

Grady Sizemore doubled and smacked a three-run homer, and Casey Blake rapped three singles in defeat. Kelly Shoppach came into the game for the injured Victor Martinez and belted a solo homer in the loss.

Martinez left the game with inflammation in his right elbow. He winced after hitting a foul ball in his first-inning at-bat, and weakly grounded to short before leaving the game for good.

The Twins' five-run third broke the game's 1-1 tie. Morneau brought home two with a double past a diving Sizemore in center, and Cuddyer followed with an RBI double of his own down the left field line.

Byrd then fell behind in the count to Kubel, who clubbed a 3-1 changeup to center for his eighth homer of the season.

After Cuddyer robbed Ben Francisco of a hit with a diving grab in the sixth, Shoppach hammered a Blackburn offering over the wall in center to make it a 6-2 game.

The home team made it interesting in the seventh. Minnesota's Dennys Reyes relieved Boof Bonser with runners on the corners and two out to face the dangerous Sizemore. Reyes hung a 3-2 breaking ball, and Sizemore promptly sent the offering into the right field seats to cut the Indians' deficit to one.

Run-scoring hits by Casilla and Morneau in the ninth padded the lead back to three, and Joe Nathan hurled a scoreless bottom of the ninth to preserve the victory and earn his 17th save of the campaign.

"The guys did a great job coming back, especially getting down early like that," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. "But we just weren't able to finish it off."

Three consecutive singles by the Twins loaded the bases in the second, but the club only brought one across thanks to Lamb's sacrifice fly to left.

Jamey Carroll brought the run back in the bottom half, smoking a 2-1 fastball off the left field wall with runners on first and second. Blake scored easily, but Franklin Gutierrez was gunned down at the plate on a prefect relay throw to keep it tied, 1-1.