Is Colt Keith's big day against White Sox a sign of things to come for Tigers?

The Detroit Tigers' offense has been more awful than normal lately, and the team entered its Sunday contest against the White Sox in a must-win situation to avoid losing a series at home to the worst team in baseball. Fortunately, they answered the bell with nine runs scored in just the first two innings of the game in an 11-2 win.

The true highlight of the afternoon was Colt Keith, who had four hits and three RBI, ending up just a triple shy of the cycle and extending a five-game hitting streak through the weekend.

It was also his third multi-hit game of the month, matching a four-hit day at the plate against the Astros on June 15 when he was one of the key pieces of the Tigers' 13-5 rout of Houston. He was just a triple away from the cycle during that game as well, but his double and solo homer saw his slugging percentage jumping 31 points and breaking .300 for the first time since June 1.

Colt Keith's four-hit day against the White Sox might suggest he's trending upwards after rough start to the season

The Tigers have been waiting patiently (too patiently, some might argue) for their six-year, $28.6 million investment to really get going. With Parker Meadows and Spencer Torkelson's demotions back to Triple-A looking like they could set a dangerous precedent for Keith, there didn't seem to be much time left for him to struggle if he wanted to save himself from the same fate.

However, Keith is batting .314 with an .830 OPS over his last 14 games, which indicates that he might just be at the beginning of a real heater. He's doubled his home run total in just eight games and tacked on four RBI. His average, OBP, and slugging have all seen steady inclines since June 12, where they started at .215/.267/.277 and have now jumped to .243/.292/.336.

His 125 WRC+ since May 1 also suggests that his quiet start to June (he hit .044 with a .087 OPS from June 1-11), was just an unfortunate cold streak, as he was hitting .404 with a 1.047 from May 17 through the end of the month.

Keith getting hot again is exactly what the Tigers need right now as they teeter dangerously on the edge of a big sale at the trade deadline. Even if it peters out a little, Keith finding some consistency would help this team immensely.