MINNEAPOLIS -- Tyson Ross knew the hot-hitting Twins were going to be aggressive against him on Friday night.

Ross used their aggressiveness to his advantage early. When he missed his spots later, the Twins made him pay.

Ross’ recent struggles continued Friday in Minnesota as the Tigers right-hander surrendered six runs in five-plus innings in a 6-0 loss to the Twins.

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“Fell behind, leadoff guy on and trouble starts from that,” Ross said. “It’s a mechanical adjustment I’ve got to make, and make it quicker than I did.”

Ross allowed six hits and four walks while striking out two in losing his fourth straight decision. Detroit was shut out for the second game in a row and an American League-high fifth time.

Ross was coming off a disappointing outing against Kansas City last Saturday, when he allowed five runs in just 1 1/3 innings of a 15-3 loss. He has allowed at least four earned runs in five of his past six starts, giving up 21 runs in his past 23 1/3 innings.

“[The Twins are] swinging the bats very good,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We knew when you get the ball up and you leave some balls out over the plate, they’re doing some damage, and they did. They put some balls in the seats. They hit some balls very hard. He hung in there, which we needed desperately to get into the sixth at least. But it wasn’t his night, he didn’t have his best stuff.”

After the game, Ross and pitching coach Rick Anderson sat talking in the clubhouse as reporters were allowed in.

“A little bit frustrated,” Ross said. “I wasn’t able to execute pitches like I wanted to tonight. There in the third inning, a leadoff walk led to the first couple runs of the game. I wasn’t able to be effective tonight.”

Ross has walked 18 batters in 35 1/3 innings this year and allowed seven home runs.

He cruised through the first two innings on Friday with just 16 pitches.

Ross then walked Mitch Garver to open the third, and two runs later came around on Jorge Polanco’s double. Ross surrendered a two-run homer to Garver in the fourth and a solo home run to Max Kepler in the fifth.

“They’re aggressive,” Ross said. “They put a lot of pitches in play early, and I had some good defense behind me. Ran into trouble in the third there, when I walked a few batters and kind of put us behind.”

Marwin Gonzalez reached to lead off the sixth on a dribbler to the left of the mound. Ross fielded the ball and hurried a high throw to Niko Goodrum at first base, but Goodrum collided with Gonzalez and was forced to leave the game with a right knee contusion. Ross’ night ended after he walked Garver.

“It’s obvious we’ve got two games tomorrow, long day,” Ross said. “Pitching into the sixth tonight wasn’t long enough. I should have gone seven at least. Just got to be better, got to execute pitches and get that leadoff guy out.”