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Colt Keith Had One Home Run All Season. Then Monday Happened. 🐯🔥

Three home runs. Six RBIs. In one night. The Detroit Tigers beat the Houston Astros 9-3 — and their starting pitcher never even threw a pitch.

By BaseChaser · June 15, 2026 · 4 min read

Colt Keith entered Monday with one home run in 65 games this season. One. All year. In 65 games.

Then he went 3-for-4 at the plate and hit three of them out of the park.

411 feet. A two-run shot in the 3rd inning. Another two-run homer over the right-field wall in the 7th. A solo shot to left in the 9th to cap the scoring. Six RBIs on the night.

He became the youngest Detroit Tigers player to hit three home runs in a game since Al Kaline in 1955. That's 71 years. That's the company he's in now.

The Night the Season Changed

Spencer Torkelson hit his 12th home run of the season in the same game. Kevin McGonigle also went yard. The Tigers piled up 11 hits and scored nine runs against a Houston Astros team that had no answer.

The crazy part? They didn't even need their scheduled starter. Troy Melton was scratched with back tightness before first pitch. The Tigers threw a bullpen game. Drew Anderson, Jacob Waguespack, Tyler Holton, Kyle Finnegan, Enmanuel De Jesus, and Will Vest combined to hold the Astros to 3 runs.

It wasn't enough for Houston. Isaac Paredes and Jose Altuve hit back-to-back homers in the 3rd inning to pull within 5-3. But the Tigers had already built a 5-0 lead by then, and Colt Keith was just getting started.

3-for-4 — 3 HR, 6 RBI
Colt Keith's line on June 15. He entered the night with ONE home run in 65 games. He hit three in one night.
Youngest Since Al Kaline (1955)
The last Tiger to hit three home runs in a game before age 24 was Al Kaline in 1955. Colt Keith just joined that list — 71 years later.
No Starting Pitcher. No Problem.
Troy Melton was scratched with back tightness before the game. The Tigers threw a bullpen game and still won 9-3. Kyle Finnegan earned the win in relief.
Tigers: 30-42 | Astros: 33-41
Detroit improved to 30-42. Houston fell to 33-41. The Tigers playoff odds: 4.4%. The Astros: 11.4%.

The Moment It Clicked

The 411-foot two-run shot in the 3rd inning was the moment it looked like it all changed. Keith turned on a pitch and launched it into the Astros bullpen in right field. By the 7th, he had two more. By the 9th, he had six RBIs and a night that nobody in Tigers history will forget.

This century, only eight Tigers have hit three home runs in a game. Miguel Cabrera did it twice. Now Colt Keith is on that list too.

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