From left, Los Angeles Angels' Erick Aybar, Bobby Abreu, and Mike Napoli celebrate scoring on... 
(AP)
Chone Figgins and Maicer Izturis, normally the table-setters in the Los Angeles Angels' lineup, both homered during a nine-run fourth inning and the AL West leaders extended their winning streak to a season-high eight games Saturday with an 11-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
Matt Palmer (8-1) allowed two runs and four hits in five innings, striking out three and walking three. The Angels have averaged 7.33 runs in the 30-year-old rookie's 12 starts.
Nick Blackburn (8-5) retired his first nine batters before Figgins led off the fourth with his third homer — the first of five consecutive hits and 10 altogether by Los Angeles during its highest-scoring inning of the season.
The Angels (58-38), who came in leading the majors with a .286 batting average despite the absence of injured outfielders Torii Hunter, Vladimir Guerrero and Juan Rivera, have won 12 of their last 13 and are a season-high 20 games over .500.
The Twins have been outscored 39-14 during their four-game losing streak.
Blackburn was charged with six runs and six hits over 3 2-3 innings in his shortest outing of 2009. The right-hander has a 1.80 ERA over the first two innings in his 20 starts this season — but a whopping 6.00 ERA the next two innings.
Izturis doubled to right-center after Figgins' homer and scored on a single by Bobby Abreu, who came home on Kendry Morales' double. Howie Kendrick added a two-out RBI single before Blackburn walked his final batter, Gary Matthews Jr.
R.A. Dickey came on and gave up RBI singles to Reggie Willits and Figgins before Izturis drove a 1-0 pitch to right for his three-run homer that capped the rally and gave the Angels a 9-2 lead.
The two-time defending AL West champions scored four or more runs in an inning for the 12th time in their last 19 games. It was the first time that three Angels batters each had two hits in the same inning since May 12, 1997, when they used a 13-run seventh to beat the Chicago White Sox 16-8 in Anaheim.
