Morneau passes Puckett on Twins' homer list

MINNEAPOLIS -- With a two-run dinger in the seventh inning of Sunday afternoon's 9-8 loss to the Royals, Justin Morneau moved into fifth place on the Twins' all-time home run list.

Morneau, with career homer No. 208, passed Kirby Puckett's total of 207.

"Anytime you get mentioned in the company of a Hall of Famer and one of the most important players in the organization, it's pretty humbling," Morneau said. "It's pretty cool and it's kind of been a long time coming. It's a bit unfortunate it didn't come in a win, but hopefully it's a sign of good things to come."

Morneau's blast was only his fourth of the season -- odd considering he was once a home run machine for the Twins.

"If it was easy to hit home runs everybody would do it," Morneau said. "It's one of those things you can work on. You can try and get your swing the way you want it and I think it's felt a lot better the last few days. It's one of those things if you can figure it out, then you're a genius and you're Miguel Cabrera or Chris Davis."