Hunter homered, Jason Kubel hit a grand slam, and the Twins handed Chicago’s Jon Garland one of the worst beatings of his career in the opener.

It was the most runs for the Twins since they scored 23 against Cleveland on June 4, 2002. The White Sox had not surrendered 20 since April 2, 1998, against Texas.

Garland (6-6) tied a career-high by allowing 12 runs, 11 of them earned. He gave up 11 hits, tying a season-high, walked three and did not strike out a batter.

He did all that in just 3 1-3 innings, his earliest exit since lasting 2 2-3 innings against Detroit on Aug. 19, 2004. But that was enough time for his ERA to leap from 3.15 to 3.92.

Garland’s day ended when Kubel hit the second grand slam of his career to make it 12-4 — even though things had gotten ugly long before that.

“The result was absolutely terrible,” Garland said. “I’m embarrassed by it.”

Scott Baker (3-3) got the win despite allowing seven runs and nine hits in five innings. He struck out six and walked one.

Chicago set season highs for runs and hits (18). It was the most runs for the White Sox since scoring 20 against St. Louis on June 20, 2006.

“I didn’t know we were going to play a football game,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.

Kubel drove in a career-high seven runs for the Twins. Mauer had four hits and tied a career-high with five RBIs. Hunter, Luis Castillo, Jason Bartlett and Morneau each had three hits, and Minnesota banged out 21 in all — one shy of their season-high.

Notes: The Twins’ previous season-high was 16 runs against Detroit on May 13. ... Hunter delivered a highlight reel play in the third inning of the first game when the center fielder raced into the gap to snag Juan Uribe’s drive to left-center. He leaped as he backhanded the ball, avoiding a collision with Kubel. ... The White Sox placed reliever Mike MacDougal on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder inflammation and activated right-hander Dewon Day (sore back).

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