The Twins waited 591 days for Kenta Maeda's return from elbow surgery.
The righthander struck out nine batters — four consecutively, including the side in the fifth inning — with no walks before he left Tuesday's 1-0 loss to the Marlins in Miami abruptly in the sixth inning shaking out his right pitching arm.
It was the Twins' first loss after a 4-0 start to the season that only Tampa Bay has matched. It also was the first time they trailed in their first five games.
The game was played in a brisk one hour, 57 minutes in this new era of a pitch clock and other rule changes intended to speed up games.
Maeda allowed only Marlins right fielder Avisail Garcia's 388-foot home run into the left-field bleachers in the second inning.
But that's all the Marlins needed, thanks to reigning Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara's nine shutout innings that stopped the Twins cold after they had scored 18 runs in their previous two games against Kansas City and Miami.
It was Alcantara's first complete game in this young season after he pitched six of them in his award-winning season a year ago.
The 6-5, righthanded Alcantara struck out five and allowed just three hits and four base runners against a Twins team that played without injured outfielder Max Kepler, who hurt his knee in Monday's 11-1 victory over the Marlins, and monitored designated hitter/outfielder Byron Buxton.
The Marlins secured the one-run victory with a game-ending double play.
Maeda surrendered just three hits, but it was the third hit that sent him out of the game after concerned infield teammates and manager Rocco Baldelli huddled around him on the mound after it became clear he was in some distress.
Marlins shortstop Jon Berti singled to left to start the sixth inning and Maeda began shaking out that right arm before Baldelli, training staff and teammates surrounded him.
They huddled for several beats before Maeda handed off the ball and walked with his head down to the team's dugout.
Reliever Emilio Pagán came on and pitched two innings before Jovani Moran pitched the eighth inning.
