Kenta Maeda tossed six innings of three-hit, one-run ball but was charged with the loss after the Minnesota Twins offense came up short in a 3-0 decision against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.
Coming off his third win in another quality start Saturday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Japanese right-hander was tagged only by a Riley Greene solo homer in the sixth inning at Detroit's Comerica Park. He struck out four and gave up one walk.
Maeda (3-7) traded scoreless innings with Detroit starter Reese Olson (2-5) until Greene homered to right-center off a 1-2 slider with two outs in the bottom of the sixth.
The Twins have a 3½-game lead on top of the American League Central division after losing the last three of their four-game road series against the Tigers.
At Pittsburgh's PNC Park, Atlanta Braves infielder Matt Olson hit his 40th home run of the season to tie Los Angeles Angels two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani for the lead in MLB home run race.