DETROIT >> Colt Keith was back in the Tigers’ lineup Saturday, even against a left-hander in the Yankees’ Carlos Rodon.

Tigers manager AJ Hinch said that he planned to give Keith, the rookie second baseman, either Friday or Saturday off, and when Keith was battling leg cramps early in the day Friday, that pretty much made up Hinch’s mind for him.

Keith was out of the lineup for Friday’s 3-0 loss to the New York Yankees. Had there been no leg cramping, he probably would’ve played Friday and sat Saturday against the lefty.

That said, Hinch issued a declaration before Saturday’s game at Comerica Park: While he’s pinch-hit a lot this year for lefties against left-handed relievers, it’s going to happen less and less as the team comes down the stretch.

There are two reasons for that. One, the Tigers are left-handed heavy, and as much as Hinch might like, you can’t pinch-hit for everybody. There’s only one Andy Ibanez on the roster. The other, the Tigers want to see what the young guys can do in those lefty-on-lefty situations as club brass is now officially in full evaluation mode for 2025, with Friday’s callups of Jace Jung and Trey Sweeney and Saturday’s callback of Spencer Torkelson.

“Our lefties are going to face lefties,” Hinch said. “I know we’ve been used to pinch-hitting a ton. We’re not going to do it as much.

“These guys need to defend themselves against lefties.”

The Tigers’ left-handed batters have had 218 plate appearances against lefties this season, and have batted .203/.251/.347 with five home runs and 27 RBIs.

Keith has been one of the better Tigers lefties against lefty pitching this season, coming into play Saturday hitting .294/.333/.392 with a home run and five RBIs in 54 plate appearances. In his first at-bat Saturday, he had a two-out RBI single to center.

“We’ve given Colt more and more of those matchups recently, and he’s responded quite well,” Hinch said. “He’s going to hit lefties.

“He’s probably going to be a guy that I pinch-hit for less and less.”

Designated hitter Kerry Carpenter, meanwhile, has been the worst against lefties, though he’s had just 18 plate appearances against them. He has just one hit in those 18 trips.

Five of the Tigers’ regular starters moving forward bat left-handed, including Keith, Carpenter, Sweeney, Jung and outfielder Parker Meadows. That number will grow to six once outfielder Riley Greene comes off the injured list. Hinch said his decisions on which lefties start against lefties will factor in, in large part, health. Meadows, Carpenter and Greene have all been on the IL recently.

Keith, battling cleanup, and Jung, batting seventh in his second major-league game, were the lefties in the lineup Saturday.

Greene (right hamstring strain) has been on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Toledo since Thursday, and figures to rejoin the Tigers in the coming week or so.

Brotherly love

There always are going to be a lot of cool moments when you’re making your major-league debut, but one of the coolest for Jung actually came after Friday’s game.

A reporter showed him a congratulations video message from his older brother, Josh Jung, a third baseman with the Texas Rangers.

“Sup, bro? Super happy for you. Today’s a special day,” Josh Jung said on the video. “It’s been a long journey, but now this is the start of another one.

“Have fun. Enjoy the moment. Enjoy the day.”

Jace Jung, a first-round pick by the Tigers out of Texas Tech in 2022, described his older brother’s video message as “awesome.” The two are very close, and now they’re major-leaguers together.

“He’s been with me every step of the way,” Jace said of Josh, who also was a first-round pick out of Texas Tech, breaking into the bigs in 2022.

“Just having him in my corner has been good. Being able to go to him about, you know, all the downs, all the ups, it’s been fun.”

Rain, rain go away

There was nothing worse in Little League than a rainout.

And the Tigers and Yankees could be facing the prospects of that for Sunday’s seventh annual Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pa. The forecast is dicey, and the Tigers and Yankees won’t travel until Sunday morning, in case MLB makes an early decision that the game is postponed.

It’s not clear if weather would postpone the game or cancel it. The Tigers and Yankees do have a mutual off-day Monday.

“Everybody’s rooting for better weather. You know it would be a bummer to get it rained out,” Hinch said. “It would probably be more of a bummer to fly there and not play.

“We’re in a waiting pattern. It doesn’t look great, but all of us are amateur weather forecasters and not experts. So we’ll wait to be told what to do.”

Tarik Skubal is the Tigers’ scheduled starter for the Little League Classic, and would normally fly in a day early. But he wasn’t doing that Saturday, in case of bad weather Sunday.

“It’s going to be a fun environment,” Skubal said earlier in the week. “It’s going to be fun. You are going to enjoy it. And I will probably enjoy it more when I’m done. It’s probably going to be whirlwind of a day.”