Much of the Detroit Tigers' season has showcased forgettable baseball, with a couple of standout players like Tarik Skubal being rare bright spots. However, rookie Colt Keith delivered a memorable moment Saturday, belting a game-tying two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Keith sounded off on the comeback victory, which saw Detroit win 11-9 in 10 innings after trailing by five entering the ninth, via The Athletic's Cody Stavenhagen.
“Playing the Dodgers, obviously they’ve got a billion dollars’ worth of players,” Keith said. “(We were) able to beat them with the boys here.”
Keith's comment may seem hyperbolic, but it's not an exaggeration. Los Angeles has over $1 billion tied up in Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto's contracts alone. This season, the Dodgers have the league's fourth-highest payroll at $249.8 million, while the Tigers are 24th at $103.8 million.
While Los Angeles may have a star-studded and expensive roster, Detroit may have found a young stud of its own. After a slow start to his career, Keith has hit .327 with seven homers over his past 27 games. The 2020 fifth-round pick is on a 13-game on-base streak, and his .509 slugging percentage since May 11 leads all rookies.
This All-Star-level production came after hitting just .152 with no homers over his first 30 games. What caused the change?
Keith re-centered himself after struggling early in his Tigers tenure
“I’ve had this at every level where I go up and I struggle,” Keith said. “I feel like I can’t see the ball, can’t see spin, can’t do anything right. This was just a really dramatic big step up. It’s one of the longest adjustment periods I’ve had in my career.”
