Source: Arizona Republic

With his 12th home run on Sunday afternoon, Jason Kubel equaled his season total from last year in exactly 100 fewer plate appearances.

The biggest difference from this year to last year?

"I'm just healthy," Kubel said.

In his final year with the Minnesota Twins, Kubel spent all of June and much of July on the disabled list with a left-foot injury. He says he rushed back, never giving the injury time to heal, and his performance suffered.

"The average went down; I hit a couple of homers here and there, but that was about it," he said.

He also said he got into trouble trying to pull the ball in pitcher-friendly Target Field, developing bad habits at the plate instead of using the whole field the way he had earlier in his career.

His home run on Sunday -- a solo shot off reliever Francisco Rodriguez that tied the game at 1 in the eighth -- went to left-center field. It was the fifth of the season he's hit to the left of center; last year, only two of his home runs were to the opposite field, according to the ESPN Home Run Tracker.

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