Detroit — Yes, of course it was getting to him. He hadn’t homered since September.
“I think it’s just something that’s always in the back of your head,” Colt Keith said. “I don’t know if it, you know, made me change my swing or my approach in any way, but it’s definitely lingered in the back of your head, wanting to get that first one of the way.”
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Finally, in Thursday’s 11-0 thumping of the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park, Keith got it out of the way, with a mighty swing in the sixth inning. Keith sent a first-pitch change-up from Zebby Matthews soaring high into the sunny, sweltering sky and deep into the stands over the right-center-field fence.
Keith flashed a big smile as he made his around the bases for his first home-run trot of the 2026 season. Waiting for him at home was Kerry Carpenter with a bear hug. Carpenter, too, was smiling wide.
Then, waiting for Keith in the dugout was … nobody. In a tradition usually reserved for rookies, the Tigers gave him a several-second silent treatment, as Keith high-fived the thin air up and down the dugout, until his teammates finally gave up the bit, mobbed him and showered him with sunflower seeds.
“It was awesome,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “I think everybody knows it was a topic. I tried to hush it a little bit when I got asked about it, because it becomes sort of a downer for him and we believe in this guy.
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‘Just a big lift to our club, but also just to get it out of the way, you know, in June.
“And, who knows. This guy can rattle off a bunch. We saw it last year.”
Keith didn’t hit his first homer of 2025 until April 29, and within 10 days of his first one, he had four. Twice last season when he hit one home run, he hit another the very next game. Keith hit 13 homers in 2024 and 13 in 2025.
If there’s another teammate who knows about recent homer droughts, it’s Spencer Torkelson, who didn’t hit his first homer of this season until April 22. Then he homered in five straight games.
Torkelson can appreciate the weightiness of Keith’s homer drought.
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“It definitely fires you up,” Torkelson said of seeing Keith’s first homer. “You root for him.”
