Kenta Maeda’s return from the injured list was stellar as the veteran right-hander struck out eight over five shutout innings to fuel the Minnesota Twins to a 4-1 victory over the Tigers in Detroit Friday night.
Maeda, making his first start since April 26, showed no signs of a tired arm or muscle strain that slowed his start to the season. He allowed just three hits and walked two before giving way to a Minnesota bullpen that allowed just one run over the final four innings.
Offensive firepower came from Royce Lewis, who ripped his fourth homer of the season to put Minnesota ahead 1-0 in the second inning. Three batters later, Max Kepler hit a two-run homer to give Minnesota. 3-0 cushion.
Kepler has homered in three of the last four games and has gone 6-of-15 with five RBIs. He had gone 7-for-54 in his previous 19 games.
Lewis has been a huge boost to Minnesota’s offense since returning from the 60-day injured list followed ACL surgery on May 29. In 13 games, the former No. 1 overall pick is slashing .315/.333/.507 with four home runs, four doubles and six RBIs.
At 39-38, the Twins lead the AL Central by two games over the Cleveland Guardians, who lost to the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night.
Note: Byron Buxton went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts but he narrowly missed a home run in the ninth inning. His deep drive to left looked like it was clear the wall but Detroit left fielder Andy Ibanez made a leaping catch to rob the potential homer. Like Kepler, Buxton has three homers in his past four games.
Up next: Twins at Tigers, Saturday at 6:15 p.m. on FOX.
