Houston — The Tigers won a baseball game Monday night, beating the Houston Astros, 9-3, in the first of three at Daikin Park.
But, stop us if you’ve heard this before, they might’ve also lost two more players to injury.
Will it ever end?
It started before the game. Right-hander Troy Melton, who was supposed to make the start, was a late scratch because of general back pain.
“I woke up and it was tight,” Melton said. “I tried to do some things pre-game, more than normal for a pre-start. But it didn’t get to a point where it felt good to go. I don’t know what attributed to it. It just popped up. We’ll see how it feels in the next few days and hopefully I can get back on schedule.”
Then in the second inning, second baseman Gleyber Torres winced and doubled over after he swung at a pitch.
“I don’t know if it’s what he had previously,” manager AJ Hinch said. “But I saw his reaction in the box so I came out. I asked him what was going on and he said it was uncomfortable. And that was it. Easy decision (to remove him from the game). I hope it is something mild but we have to get him looked at to know.”
Torres had sports hernia surgery in the offseason and missed most of May with a left oblique strain. It appeared he tweaked that same area on the swing.
The Tigers were unclear about the severity of either injury, but their history of avoiding the injured list this season is poor.
As for the game itself, it was the ultimate all-or-nothing performance by the Tigers’ offense. They struck out a season-high 18 times. But they banged out 11 hits, including five home runs and a triple and had runners on base in every inning.
“Baseball is funny,” Hinch said. “It’ll show you something you never seen before. That punch-out and miss to go along with almost double-digit runs, five homers and a good win — those things don’t often go together. But they did tonight.”
Colt Keith led the charge. After hitting his first home run last Thursday, he swatted three of them and knocked in six runs on Monday.
“Like breaking open the dam,” he said.
The three homers and six RBI are both career highs.
“Nothing in particular has really changed it,” Keith said. “I was just seeing it really well tonight. I was on time for the heater and I was seeing spin, seeing the seams on the baseball today. I felt I was in a good spot the whole day. I want to recreate that tomorrow and be consistent with that swing.”
Keith hit two bombs to right field, the first one 411 feet into the Astros’ bullpen. The last one he hit to the opposite-field into the Crawford Boxes in left. He hit a sweeper, a changeup and, the last, a slider off Bryan Abreu.
“Being on time for the fastball, for me, is when I get the most aggressive,” Keith said. “I’m not leaving my back hip and not trying to be so on time that I’m leaping toward the pitcher. Just stay stable in my legs and I’m able to get to 97 (mph) but also keep the hips back and turn on the changeup. Tonight was a good example of that.
“There’s been a lot of behind-the-scenes work these last couple weeks.”
Rookie Kevin McGonigle, who walked twice and singled, hit his fifth homer of the season in the second inning. Spencer Torkelson hit his 12th, going back-to-back with Keith in the third inning.
BOX SCORE: Tigers 9, Astros 3
Torkelson has hit three homers in four games.
“This was a good day,” McGonigle said. “Everyone was up there battling and we all stayed committed to whatever our approaches were. So happy for Colt. It was cool to see what he did tonight. We all know he’s got that in him.”
The Tigers’ first three homers, and nine of the strikeouts, came against Astros starter Kai-Wei Teng. His first inning set the tone for the zaniness of this game.
He walked two, hit two, including Keith with the bases loaded, but he struck out three. Through the fourth inning, 11 of the 12 Tigers’ outs were strikeouts.
“We can’t forget the things we did in between the punch-outs and miss,” Hinch said. “We had some really big swings, from Kevin to Colt to Ding. It was a good night by a lot of guys, despite all punch-outs.”
Dillon Dingler accounted for the sixth run, with his wheels. He sliced a ball to right field that spun away from right-fielder Cam Smith and rolled to the wall. Dingler never slowed down around second and beat the relay throw.
He scored on a passed ball. He had two hits and scored three runs on the night.
The only intrigue down the stretch was whether the Tigers’ could collect enough outs. Melton’s injury turned this into an impromptu bullpen game. And the answer was yes, they could.
Drew Anderson struck out five in 2.2 innings, leaving with a runner on and two outs in the third.
Right-hander Jacob Waguespack entered and gave up home runs on back-to-back pitches – a two-strike, two-run homer to former Tiger Isaac Paredes and a 410-foot rocket to Jose Altuve.
But he pitched a clean fourth. After Kyle Finnegan got through the fifth unscathed, lefty Tyler Holton got the next five outs. It was the fifth straight scoreless outing for Holton. He’s allowed just two runs in 10 innings, with 11 strikeouts in his last 10 games.
Will Vest got four outs and Enmanuel De Jesus finished off the ninth.
“Every guy did a little more than I could’ve asked,” Hinch said. “We will have plenty of pitching tomorrow.”
Framber Valdez, in his first return to Houston where he pitched the last eight seasons, will start. Hinch said Keider Montero will also be available in the bullpen. That doesn’t mean he’s out of the rotation, but with the return of Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize, and with the rainout Sunday in Cleveland, his turn to start was skipped.
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tigers’ Colt Keith belts three homers to down Astros in opener
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Chris McCosky, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
