BALTIMORE — Detroit Tigers rookie Colt Keith, who suffered a right shoulder injury in Tuesday's game, returned to the starting lineup for Friday's opener of a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles, following a one-game absence.

Keith, 23, is the designated hitter for Friday's game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. He said he hopes to return to second base Saturday or Sunday.

The Tigers aren't sure when Keith will play the infield again.

"We'll see what I do with him (Saturday), and then into Sunday," manager A.J. Hinch said before Friday's game. "There's a chance that he sees the defensive side of the field during this series. There's also a chance that we wait until the off day Monday and get into the Tampa series before we put him back at second base."

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Before Friday's game, Keith completed throws — varying in distances and angles — to catching coordinator Brayan Peña, with assistant athletic trainer Chris McDonald and infield coach Joey Cora watching. He didn't appear to be restricted by his right arm.

"It felt good," Keith said. "It felt a lot better."

The Tigers will take a day-to-day approach in evaluating Keith's ability to play second base.

"It's not the end of the world to configure our defense this way or have him DH," said Hinch, who started Zach McKinstry at second and Matt Vierling at third in Friday's game. "It's not horrible, but if we can move the DH around, it will help us against (Cade) Povich (on Saturday) and (Albert) Suárez on Sunday."

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After the injury in Tuesday's fifth inning, Keith wasn't in the lineup for Wednesday's series finale against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

The off day Thursday provided an extra day of rest.

Keith is hitting .264 with 13 home runs, 35 walks and 104 strikeouts across 139 games in the 2024 season. He has a .315 batting average in 14 games in September.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Colt Keith injury: 2B returns to Detroit Tigers starting lineup