Rookie Colt Keith hits clutch double in victory against Mets
NEW YORK — Detroit Tigers rookie Colt Keith has been trying to fix the timing of his swing mechanics. He made an adjustment in the past couple of days by eliminating the excess movement of his head when he swings.
"I'm excited to take those adjustments onto field," Keith said.
The 22-year-old delivered in Game 1 of Thursday's doubleheader against the New York Mets at Citi Field, hitting an outside fastball off right-handed reliever Michael Tonkin to left field for a clutch game-winning double. The Tigers beat the Mets, 6-3, in 11 innings behind a three-run outburst — sparked by Keith's double — to stay undefeated in the 2024 season.
Keith provided the double with two strikes and one out, scoring the free runner in extras, only for the Tigers to drive in two more runs on Gio Urshela's bloop single into center field off Tonkin's sweeper at the bottom of the zone.
The double marked Keith's second hit and first extra-base hit in his MLB career, spanning five games.
"Timing, leg kick, things that I was working through in spring training," Keith said Thursday morning, explaining the adjustment. "At this point, I feel like I was trying to correct my timing, and I did it the wrong way. I was too far on my backside, and then when I had to come forward, my head was moving towards the ball, and I was on my front foot. We're trying to spread out and go straight up, straight down to the ball so my head isn't moving as much. We'll see where that takes us."
Before Keith's heroics, right-hander Casey Mize — the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft — returned from elbow surgery and back surgery. The 26-year-old allowed three runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts across 41⁄3 innings in his first start of the season.
Mize threw 87 pitches.
"I felt a lot out there," Mize said. "Excitement, pride and joy, even if I struggled at times and the box score wasn't great, but obviously, I'm super proud of the work I put in and the
people who helped me get back. I was super happy to be back and competing in the big leagues with my team."
The Tigers (5-0) — the only unbeaten team in the big leagues — mounted a comeback with one run apiece in the sixth, seventh and eighth, capped by Riley Greene's game-tying solo home run off right-handed reliever Adam Ottavino.
Ottavino hung a sweeper over the heart of the plate.
Greene didn't miss.
He belted the mistake pitch for a 394-foot solo shot to right-center field, his second homer of the season (and his first pull-side homer). He had two hits in his first 18 at-bats. Both hits traveled for homers.
Right-handed reliever Jason Foley worked around two walks in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the game to extra innings. He got Francisco Alvarez to bounce into an inningending double play.
The Tigers and Mets did not score in the 10th
inning.
Right-handed reliever Shelby Miller fired scoreless innings in the 10th and 11th with four strikeouts, following scoreless efforts from four other relievers: left-hander Joey Wentz, right-hander Alex Lange, right-hander Andrew Chafin and Foley.
It's the first 5-0 record for the Tigers since 2015.
That year, the Tigers didn't lose until their seventh game.
A.J. Hinch's chess moves
The Tigers had a big opportunity with runners on the corners and zero outs in the sixth inning.
Manager A.J. Hinch replaced Kerry Carpenter, a left-handed hitter, with Ibáñez, a righthanded hitter, as a countermove to the Mets bringing in left-handed reliever Brooks Raley. The strategic decision worked out because Ibáñez delivered a sacrifice fly to put the Tigers on the board, trailing 3-1.
The Tigers cut the deficit to 3-2 in the seventh inning.
There were two runners on base with two outs when the Mets called left-handed reliever Jake Diekman out of the bullpen. Last season, right-handers hit .151 and left-handers hit .229 against Diekman, but Hinch turned to righthander Mark Canha as a pinch-hitter for lefthander Parker Meadows.
A passed ball and wild pitch allowed one run to score, then Canha — who hit .264 against lefties last season — drew a walk to keep the inning alive. Spencer Torkelson, though, struck out swinging to strand two runners.
Eyes on Mize
Returning from a 721-day absence, Mize managed his nerves in the early innings and turned in a solid performance. He generated 10 whiffs with four fastballs, one slider and five splitters.
His fastball averaged 94.8 mph and maintained its dominance from spring training. His splitter had its best diving action yet. His slider remained a work-in-progress pitch with too many near misses.
"I think I did some things that I really, really liked and that I'm really happy to see," Mize said. "I think the split was a really good pitch for me. I liked my fastball a lot. I think I should have thrown more than I did. I was a little slider happy. I feel like I could've ended some at-bats earlier with some fastballs."
Mize opened the third inning by striking out DJ Stewart, but his third inning wasn't as clean as his first and second innings. With two outs, Mize allowed three batters to reach safely in Francisco Lindor (hit-by-pitch), Pete Alonso (single) and Alvarez (double).
The two-strike, two-out double from Alvarez off Mize's hanging splitter drove in two runs.
The Mets took a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning, but not before Mize left the game after giving up a hard-hit single to Alonso with one out. Wentz replaced Mize and allowed a two-out RBI single to Brett Baty.
That run was charged to Mize's tab.