DETROIT -- Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland said his team’s come-from-behind win Tuesday was one of the most enjoyable games in his 21-year career.

The Tigers' up-and-down loss Wednesday might’ve been his most frustrating.

Detroit battled back from three early-inning deficits, but couldn't pull off a late-inning rally when it mattered most, falling 11-7 to the last-place Minnesota Twins.

After scoring six runs in their first two innings, the Tigers (18-19) were held to one run on five hits in the final seven frames en route to their 16th loss in the last 25 games.

Rick Porcello struggled out of the gate for the second straight start and was chased early due to poor command and a sloppy defense that would prove costly.

The 11 runs were a season high for the Twins, who recorded only their fifth road win this year.

The loss dropped the Tigers back below .500 and thwarted another chance at recording back-to-back wins -- a feat they haven’t pulled off since mid-April.

"I probably jinxed us," Leyland said. "Even though we're around .500, we actually played pretty good baseball. We swung the bats good again tonight for the most part, so hopefully that's a good sign of things to come."

Porcello allowed two runs to score in the first inning for his second straight start and has now allowed 14 first-inning earned runs in eight starts this season.

His teammates certainly didn’t help limit the damage by committing a season-high four errors, including two in the first inning by Prince Fielder and Ramon Santiago that helped give the Twins a 2-0 lead.

"For whatever reason, he's struggling to get the ball down," Leyland said. "We didn't help a lot early on, but still, he wasn't getting the ball down."

The Tigers responded in the bottom frame when Fielder’s sacrifice fly drove in Austin Jackson, who finished 2-for-3 before exiting in the fourth with a strained abdomen. He's

.

"It didn't appear to be a whole lot, but I've heard that before," Leyland said of Jackson. "I think we just have to wait and see."

Porcello was credited with three more unearned runs in the third after Brian Dozier hit a three-run home run that came after Raburn’s two-out fielding error.

Of his six runs allowed, only two were earned.

The Tigers staged a five-run in the second, highlighted by a barrage of four consecutive RBI singles.

"We scored seven runs," Leyland said. "When you score seven runs in a big league game, you're supposed to win. If you don't win, you have problems."

But Detroit would relinquish its 6-5 lead the following frame after Ryan Doumit's single scored Josh Willingham, who led off with a double.

Miguel Cabrera's RBI double in the fifth scored Andy Dirks to tie it at 6-all, but third baseman Jamey Carroll's two-run double off Duane Below in the sixth gave the Twins (11-26) a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

The Twins would score three more unanswered runs off inning-eating relievers Luke Putkonen and Collin Balester in the eighth and ninth inning.

"Some guys have to hold the opposition so they don't add on runs," Leyland said, "and we weren't able to do that."

-- Follow James Schmehl on Twitter: @jamesschmehl.