DETROIT – Every once in a while, a warm dose of humanity presents itself in the middle of a somewhat hum-drum September baseball game against two teams on the outside looking in at the playoffs.

Such a moment happened in the middle of the fourth inning of the Detroit Tigers' rain-delayed, walk-infested 7-2 series-clinching win over the Minnesota Twins before an intimate gathering of 18,788 at Comerica Park Wednesday (Sept. 9).

Generally, when manager AJ Hinch pulls his starting pitcher between innings, he does so with a handshake. This time, he walked the length of the dugout, shook Keider Montero's hand, hugged him, shared some heart-felt words, patted on the shoulders and then gave him a fatherly tap on the cheek.

"Keider is about to be a father for the first time," Hinch said. "Sometimes we need to keep that in perspective when life-changing things like that happen."

Montero has been grinding along while his fiance is back in Venezuela about to deliver their first child. Because she doesn't have a visa, they've had to put their wedding plans on hold and communications have been limited to FaceTime.

The last thing Hinch wanted was for Montero to be stressing over a shortened, four-inning outing or the two solo homers he gave up back-to-back to Kody Clemens and Josh Bell in the top of the fourth. Hinch took a moment to make sure Montero saw the big picture.

"He is still a young guy," Hinch said. "I just said, 'Hey man, you're about to be a father. Like, you're going to enjoy that, hopefully this weekend.' It was an extra moment there just to hopefully calm his perfectionist side and his emotions. Because, no matter what, his biggest responsibility moving forward is going to be as a dad."

It was special moment in a game that probably won’t make it onto any greatest games of 2026 compilations. But for the Tigers, it was a beauty.

After slogging through a one hour, 40-minute rain delay at the start of the game, they built a fast 5-0 lead on their way to snapping a streak of seven winless series.

"We needed that," said Colt Keith, whose two-run homer in the first inning was the kickstart. "It's been a while since we won a series. A lot of us have been grinding. This was really good for us."

The Tigers turned five of the eight walks issued by Twins pitchers into runs, including three of the four off Twins’ starter Zebby Matthews in the first three innings.

For Keith, who was unaware of his productive history against Matthews, it was his 10th homer and his second in 49 games.

"It felt amazing," he said. "Today was kind of a grind in the cage, just trying really hard to get some results. To get one there was awesome."

Keith, now 5 for 9 against Matthews in his career with two doubles and two homers, came into this series on a 3 for 32 skid.

"It was really nice to play from ahead," Hinch said. "Colt has been battling himself. He's trying to stay disciplined with the same approach but he's also someone who tends to tinker because he knows what he's looking for and how he's trying to feel. To get rewarded with a big swing was nice and the homer settled us in."

Matthews walked three more in the third, including Riley Greene with the bases loaded. A sacrifice fly by Dillon Dingler plated another run and rookie Brett Callahan doubled in another.

"You look up at the scoreboard and the hit total was pretty light, but our pressure on offense wasn't," Hinch said.

The Tigers had seven hits with the eight walks.

"We did create some opportunities," Hinch said. "But they gave us a few extra baserunners and we did something positive with them."

The Tigers did something else they've struggled to do throughout the season. They added some tack-on runs. Dingler, who was hitting .117 with a .317 OPS since Aug. 7, lined a two-out RBI single to center in the seventh.

And the Tigers' rookie core created some mayhem in the bottom of the eighth. Max Clark walked and stole second. He'd been picked off first base in the sixth. Ben Malgeri smartly advanced him to third with a ground ball to second. John Peck, who made several impressive plays at shortstop, brought Clark home with a liner through the drawn-in infield.

"I know it's super simple and it's a tack-on run," Hinch said. "But for Max to get a leadoff walk, steal second, we move him over and Peck gets the base hit -- that's how it's supposed to work when you get extra bases for free. We did that a couple of times today."

The win also showcased the increased athleticism the eight rookies have infused into the Tigers' lineup. It's been evident on defense with Clark running down balls in center, Callahan making big plays and big throws in left and Malgeri contributing on both sides of the ball.

"Once we match that athleticism with trust on the bases, match what we're seeing and the work we're doing pre-game, to be able to take advantage of a few opportunities we think we're going to get," Hinch said. "It's important to take it into the game. We're going to be a little more dynamic. We're going to be a little bit more of a fear-based team. We're going to be able to put some pressure on teams by the threat of us running as well as how we run the bases."

Montero was excused and left the ballpark before the end of the game. It's still unclear when the baby is coming. The expectation is it will be this weekend.

"Keider is the definition of professional," Keith said. "He's going to be the same guy for us every day. I thought he was great today."

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