Colt Keith hit three home runs and drove in six runs Monday night as the Detroit Tigers beat the Houston Astros 9-3 in an MLB game at Daikin Park in Houston, according to ESPN's recap and game summary.
ESPN marked the game final and listed Keith at 3-for-4 with three runs, three hits, six RBI, three home runs, no walks and one strikeout. The 24-year-old entered the game with one homer in 65 games this season, then became the youngest Tigers player with a three-homer game since 1955.
Keith Turns One Homer Into Four
Detroit had already taken a 2-0 lead when Keith hit his first homer, a 411-foot two-run shot in the third inning. Spencer Torkelson followed with his 12th homer of the season, and the Tigers were up 5-0 before Houston could answer.
Keith's second homer came in the seventh inning, another two-run shot that pushed Detroit's lead back out after Houston had scored three times in the third. He finished the night with a solo homer to left in the ninth.
ESPN reported that only eight different Tigers have had a three-homer game this century, with Miguel Cabrera doing it twice. That gives Keith's night more weight than a hot line in a June box score.
Tigers Bullpen Handles A Scratched Start
The Tigers had to change plans before first pitch after starter Troy Melton was scratched with back tightness, according to ESPN. Detroit used a bullpen game and still held Houston to seven hits.
Kyle Finnegan threw a one-hit fifth inning and was credited with the win in relief. Tyler Holton followed with 1 2/3 scoreless innings, his fifth straight scoreless outing, before Will Vest and Enmanuel De Jesus finished the game.
Detroit also got homers from Kevin McGonigle and Torkelson in an 11-hit game. McGonigle's second-inning homer opened the scoring before Keith took over the middle and late innings.
Astros Rally Stops In Third
Houston's response came quickly but briefly. Isaac Paredes and Jose Altuve hit back-to-back third-inning homers to cut Detroit's lead to 5-3.
That was all the Astros scored. ESPN's box score listed Paredes with two RBI and Altuve with one, while Yordan Alvarez had two of Houston's seven hits.
ESPN's game information listed attendance at 26,632 and game duration at 2:57. For Detroit, the useful part is clean enough: a 9-3 road win built around the youngest Tigers three-homer game in more than seven decades.