Keith gets silent treatment for first '26 homer as Tigers tee off

DETROIT -- The Tigers are one of the few teams that do not have a home run prop. They’ve had one in past years but went away from it. That did not stop them from having fun with Colt Keith as he rounded the bases Thursday on his first homer of the season.

Keith had been pressing to get on the home-run board. His hot start to the season had yielded singles and doubles all over the field but nothing in the seats, and his recent slump -- he entered Thursday batting 2-for-22 in June -- hadn't helped. As his Statcast-projected 419-foot drive off a Zebby Matthews changeup landed midway up the right-field seats, he wore a smile that continued his entire trip around the bases.

“That was awesome,” Keith said. “It felt like a big weight off my shoulders, getting the first one. It was great.”

While Keith crossed home plate, his teammates cleared the dugout, leaving him no one to celebrate with on his first home run since last Sept. 10. Manager A.J. Hinch said Gleyber Torres was the mastermind; others said it was a group effort. Even Hinch held back on his usual high-five as Keith descended the dugout steps.

“I saw them all sitting on the bench, so I was like, ‘Here we go,’” Keith said. “But it was awesome. I was already super happy, and that made me laugh more.”

Keith paraded down the dugout high-fiving imaginary teammates before being mobbed. The Tigers could have their fun knowing their midseason revival took another step with an 11-0 win over the Twins and a third consecutive series win heading into a critical weekend series in Cleveland.

This is the fun they seemed to be missing while they sputtered through May. Winning clearly helps, but even before the Tigers’ recent roll, they had talked about having fun and getting back to their brand of ball.

“Go back to who we are, and at least have fun doing it,” catcher Jake Rogers said last week.

They swept the AL East-leading Rays after that, and have taken two of three from the AL West-leading Mariners and now the Twins. Next up are the Guardians, whose four-game sweep in Detroit three weeks ago sent the Tigers plunging down the standings but who enter the series on a four-game losing streak of their own, having just been swept by the Yankees.

“We expect to win games. We expect to win series,” Hinch said. “Our identity has always been staying focused on where we’re at and trying to win series, and this is three series in a row. …

“That’s how you chip away at where we’re at and what we’re trying to do. June has been a lot more fun for obvious reasons, but the vibe around this team is we’ve gotten our team back, and we’re going to continue to get our team we expected to have back in the fold. … Yeah, there’s a little shift in fun.”

Detroit slugged six home runs and barely missed another -- Kevin McGonigle’s fly to left bounced off the top of the fence and stayed in for a leadoff double to set up the game’s first run -- to support 6 1/3 scoreless innings from Keider Montero, who staked his claim to be part of what could soon become a six-man Tigers rotation. Spencer Torkelson’s two-run homer in the fourth inning and Gleyber Torres’ fifth-inning solo shot had put Detroit comfortably ahead.

Still, no homer was bigger than Keith’s two-run drive. This is the power everyone knows the big-bodied Keith can produce. He hit 27 homers in his last season in the Minor Leagues in 2023, and put up 13 in both of the last two years in Detroit. It had become a lingering topic.

“The scoreboard reminds you every day, and unfortunately it reminds him,” Hinch said Wednesday. “He has plenty of power, so I’m not concerned about power. He’s hit the ball pretty hard in the last couple weeks and not gotten things to show for it. He’s using the middle of the field. That’s always deemed good hitting; that’s not necessarily where his power is. …

“We know that he hits for power in bunches once he gets going a little bit.”

If Keith heats up, his bat will be tough to ignore, even in jest.

“I don’t know if it made me change my swing or my approach in my way, but it definitely lingered in the back of my head, wanting to get that first one out of the way,” he said. “It’s a huge weight off the shoulders, and now we go.”