Kenta Maeda throws five scoreless innings in Detroit Tigers' 6-2 win over Blue Jays

Veteran right-hander Kenta Maeda threw five scoreless innings in his return from the injured list, rookie second baseman Colt Keith hit the first home run of his career, and most importantly, the Detroit Tigers snapped a five-game losing streak.

It was a much-needed win for the Tigers.

The Tigers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-2, on Friday at Comerica Park in the second of four games in the series behind a couple of powerful swings at the plate and an impressive performance from Maeda mound.

"I was able to mix in all my pitches and locate them well," Maeda said.

Maeda typically has his best starts when he racks up a flurry of swings and misses, but facing the Blue Jays, he generated just six whiffs on 35 swings for a 17.1% whiff rate. He struck out one of the 18 batters he faced, rather benefitting from weak contact.

The Tigers (24-27) — still 10 games out of first place in the American League Central — activated Maeda from the injured list before Friday's game. He hadn't pitched for the Tigers since May 7 because of a viral illness.

"I wasn't able to get a lot of strikeouts," Maeda said in Japanese, interpreted by Dai Sekizaki, "but instead, I got a lot of flyouts. I was able to pitch to contact for outs. I was successful in keeping them guessing with the pitches."

WATCH: Tigers rookie Colt Keith hits first career home run against Blue Jays

The best opportunity for the Blue Jays to score against Maeda occurred in the first inning, when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. smoked a two-out double to left field. Bo Bichette followed with a single to right field, but right fielder Kerry Carpenter threw out Guerrero trying to score from second base.

The Blue Jays tested Carpenter's arm — and failed. Catcher Carson Kelly received the ball and applied the tag to complete the successful play at the plate.

Maeda worked around four hits in five innings, without issuing a walk.

The 36-year-old threw 26 four-seam fastballs, 20 sliders, 18 splitters, seven sinkers and three curveballs. Locating sliders for swinging strikes and called strikes propelled him to a successful return from the injured list.

"He was really deceptive," manager A.J. Hinch said. "He never really threw the same pitch twice in a row. He looked like he had them off balance. He got some miss hits. He was creative in his pitches. He threw late-count fastballs, which were good, and I think he had pretty good feel for his offspeed, which is always key for him."

Maeda, who signed a two-year, $24 million contract in free agency this past offseason, lowered his ERA from 6.75 to 5.80 in his eighth start this season.

Offense explodes

The Tigers had a .200 batting average with two home runs during the five-game losing streak, with a much-better .234 batting average in the 45 games before the drought.

In Friday's game, the Tigers matched their homer total from the five-game losing streak in five innings against Blue Jays right-hander Alek Manoah.

"We took a pretty good plan into the game," Hinch said. "He's pitched a lot better than we saw him in spring (training). I know he's battled his way back, so coming off a couple of good games, we know he's going to be in attack mode. You have to cover a lot of pitches with him, which means you got to pick. I thought our guys did a good job of getting a pitch to hit and executing."

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Keith, who signed a long-term contract extension before his first game in the big leagues, hit a solo home run off Manoah's changeup for a 1-0 lead in the second inning. The 22-year-old smacked the ball 400 feet to right-center field with a 105.2 mph exit velocity.

It was the first homer of Keith's 44-game MLB career in his 155th plate appearance.

"That feels really good," Keith said. "I feel like I've been dreaming of that for a while. It was kind of a blur when it happened. I don't even know what pitch I hit. I just knew that I hit it good, and I was just happy to see it fly into the stands."

The Tigers scored three runs in the fourth inning for a 4-0 lead on Matt Vierling's sacrifice fly, Keith's hit-by-pitch and Zach McKinstry's groundout. (Before McKinstry's groundout, Spencer Torkelson missed a huge opportunity by striking out swinging on a middle-in changeup with the bases loaded.)

In the fifth inning, Mark Canha drew a two-out walk on six pitches to set the table for another long ball off Manoah. Carpenter jumped a first-pitch changeup for a 410-foot two-run home run to right-center field, his seventh homer this season.

Carpenter put the Tigers ahead, 6-0.

He also chased Manoah, who surrendered six runs (four earned runs) on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts across 4⅔ innings, throwing 97 pitches.

"He's got good stuff when he locates it," Keith said. "I was definitely just going back to my same approach, sitting fastball and adjusting offspeed. He's got a harder changeup, so I was able to make sure I was on time for the fastball, and I felt like he wasn't going to get out front enough with that changeup. It's the same approach. Sit fastball and adjust."

Beau Brieske bridges

Maeda threw 53 pitches in his lone rehab start with Triple-A Toledo while on the injured list, so he wasn't going to get close to the century mark against the Blue Jays. He tossed 74 pitches through five innings, but he didn't return for the sixth.

Right-handed reliever Beau Brieske covered the next 2⅔ innings, working around a walk in the sixth, a single in the seventh and a walk in the eighth. He dominated with his changeup to bridge the gap to the end of the game, though right-handed reliever Will Vest picked him up by finishing the eighth inning.

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Left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin allowed four consecutive two-out singles in the top of the ninth inning to Ernie Clement, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Davis Schneider and Alejandro Kirk, allowing the Blue Jays to cut the deficit to 6-2.

Two runs on four hits from the Blue Jays forced the Tigers to bring right-handed reliever Jason Foley, who works as the closer, into the game with two outs and runners on the corners.

Foley sent down Danny Jansen with a groundout, ending the game.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Kenta Maeda solid in return in 6-2 win over Blue Jays