Texas Rangers starter Max Scherzer left Friday night's 5-1 loss to the American League Central-leading Minnesota Twins due to tightness in his forearm.

Scherzer, in his sixth start for the Rangers since being acquired in a trade from the New York Mets, struck out seven and allowed only one hit in six innings before his departure following 88 pitches with a 1-0 lead.

He insisted afterward that he is OK and just didn't want the forearm tightness to become an extended problem.

"There in the sixth inning, I could tell my location was starting to get off," Scherzer said. "Now I can tell that I was kind of at my limit, even though my shoulder was good, my arm's good. I didn't go out there and put myself in a dangerous position. I was not going to go out there and hurt myself. You come up with a forearm strain now, you're done for the year. So that's where you've got to be smart and take a blow when you need it."

The lone hit against Scherzer was when Royce Lewis was credited with an infield single on a sharp grounder off third baseman Ezequiel Duran in the fourth inning.

The Rangers (75-59) lost for the 11th time in 14 games. They returned home from a 3-6 trip having lost the AL West lead they had held for 148 of the season's first 149 days. They are now in third place, but only a game behind the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros, who are still tied atop the division after both also lost Friday.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.