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Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers

Final
Comerica Park79°, Cloudy18,788

Recap

Player of the gameTravis AdamsMIN2.2ip 1h 0er 3k

Movie buff Colt Keith could probably relate to the scene in "Moneyball" where Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt, tries to convince Chris Pratt’s Scott Hatteberg character that shifting to first base is simple, only to be told by Ron Washington that it’s incredibly hard. On Tuesday night, he took the railing of the visiting dugout to his midsection trying to chase down a fly ball. On Wednesday afternoon, as left fielder Brett Callahan caught Twins rookie Walker Jenkins well off of first base on Luke Keaschall’s fly out, Keith was accidentally caught in a blind spot for Callahan’s throw. “The ball was directly behind the runner the whole time when he was running back,” Keith said after the Tigers’ 7-2 win Wednesday at Comerica Park. “I went left and I was like, ‘No, that’s not going to work.’ I went right, and that wasn’t gonna work. So I was just like, ‘I’m going to have to just try to body this.’  “He dove, and it went right over him. I don’t even know how I caught it. It just kind of went in my glove. That’s why I kind of jumped, trying to absorb the hit, don’t let it get past me.” Keith’s feet briefly left the bag as he gathered the ball. The play was close, but replay upheld the safe call. Detroit starter Keider Montero got out of the inning, and Keith looked much more comfortable around the railing when he gathered Brooks Lee’s foul ball in the sixth. “I made sure to bust it to get to the railing and come back if I needed to,” he said. In Keith’s defense, he’s not new to first base like Hatteberg was when he joined the A’s in 2002. Keith has 34 games there over the last two seasons, and spent a portion of his offseason training to play there ahead of the 2025 campaign before Spencer Torkelson held down the full-time role. He’s probably more relatable to former Tigers All-Star Carlos Guillén, who moved from third base to first upon Miguel Cabrera’s arrival in 2008, then moved back to third a few weeks later when Cabrera moved from third to first. As the Tigers’ 2026 season hits the home stretch, Keith is getting another dose of playing time there. Wednesday marked his second consecutive start at first base, and fifth game there in 11 days. Part of that, according to manager A.J. Hinch, is a short-term way to get Keith at-bats while still finding playing time for rookies Kevin McGonigle, Hao-Yu Lee and John Peck on the left side of the infield. But there’s also the obvious question of how the 2027 Tigers' infield might look. “I don’t want to bury anybody,

Team stats

5Hits7
2Home runs1
2Walks8
8Strikeouts10
0Stolen bases2
162Pitches thrown156
10Pitching strikeouts8

Box score

BattersABRHRBIHRBBSO
Trevor LarnachLF3010011
Kody Clemens2B4111101
Josh BellDH4121100
Luke KeaschallRF3000000
Royce Lewis1B3000002
Kaelen CulpepperSS4000000
Walker JenkinsCF2000012
Victor CaratiniC3010001
Brooks Lee3B4000001
Totals30252228
PitchersIPHRERBBSOHR
Kody FunderburkP0.2111120
Taylor RogersP1.0100010
Zebby MatthewsP2.1255421
Tommy NanceP1.1211120
Travis AdamsP2.2100230