MINNEAPOLIS -- Maybe it really was all about the socks, after all.

Baseball players are certainly no strangers to superstition, and all we’re saying is that the Twins’ starting pitching woes have mostly reversed course since Kenta Maeda decided to shake things up in his last start by donning high socks for the first time in his career.

The socks were back on Friday, and so was the good version of Maeda, who looked just like his old self with his dominant slider and split changeup as he blanked Detroit for five shutout innings in which he scattered only two singles and two walks. Minnesota’s offense eventually backed him with a four-run sixth as the Twins surged to a 4-2 win over the Tigers at Target Field.

Since Maeda’s wardrobe change, the right-hander has allowed four hits in 11 shutout innings, with 17 strikeouts against the Royals and Tigers. And that appears to have been contagious to the rest of the Twins’ rotation, as Minnesota starters have combined for a 2.29 ERA (nine earned runs in 35 1/3 innings) since Extreme Makeover: Kenta Edition.

“I kind of had to think through whether I was going to wear it today, and I ended up wearing it,” Maeda said. “I ended up pitching well. So I think it's time for me to take the long pants out of my locker."

And after being held without a hit into the fifth inning for a second straight game -- this time, by rookie right-hander Matt Manning -- the Twins’ offense again adjusted in time for a game-winning rally. Trevor Larnach punched a clutch, left-on-left RBI single for a second straight game, and Nelson Cruz clubbed a sacrifice fly before Max Kepler took advantage of Robbie Grossman’s missed dive in left field for a two-run triple that proved decisive.

Maeda generated 17 whiffs in his 84-pitch outing on Friday, his third-highest total of the season, and one behind his 18-whiff outing in Kansas City on Sunday. So, the stuff certainly seems to be trending up, with the slider accounting for eight of those swinging strikes and the split-change adding six more against the Tigers -- each one shy of his season-high in whiffs on those pitches.

The right-hander himself just feels that the quality and command of his stuff have been better since he came off the injured list following the recovery of both his groin and his sore right arm, and with his offspeed pitches working the way he wanted for a second straight start, he surprised the Tigers with an unexpected game plan -- and backed it up with better execution.

“He threw a lot of fastballs early,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We weren't anticipating that as much. … He was reverse at the very beginning. As he got towards the bottom of the order, he flipped it and started going with a ton of secondary pitches and not very many fastballs, so a savvy performance by him.”

Though Maeda’s start was cut short after five innings due to some general fatigue that flared up at the end of his outing, he’ll have a chance to recover over the All-Star break.

More significantly, the Twins maintaining this version of their Opening Day starter could be significant for their hopes to rebound from this disappointing season in 2022 and beyond, with only he and José Berríos set to return to the Twins next year among their Opening Day rotation options.

“It looks exactly like what we saw for the full 60-game season last year,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “When he's really feeling that split-change, when he's really feeling that slider, it enhances his fastball in so many ways. Those pitches are very deceptive and get bad swings and swings and misses, and the opposition almost has to look for them in order to be able to do something with them.”

It wasn’t the easiest first half for Maeda, last season’s Cy Young Award runner-up to Shane Bieber, as he struggled with the groin and arm issues that appeared to hamper him throughout the early portion of the season before he took time off his feet. It’s unlikely that it would have made a substantial difference in the Twins’ ultimate fate, in any case, with the club sitting 13 games below .500.

Whether it’s the high socks or the rest that finally did the trick, orienting Maeda towards a successful finish is what the Twins can hope for as they begin to prepare for their future -- and this is a good start.