Javier Báez provides spark as Tigers rally past Twins to salvage series split
Chris McCosky
Detroit — The Tigers’ offensive struggles were lingering like a bad smell on Sunday.
Down 3-0 in the eighth inning, having been utterly stymied by Twins’ 6-9 right-hander Bailey Ober for six-plus innings, they looked dead in the water.
And then Javier Báez leaned into a hanging, 2-2 sweeper from lefty reliever Caleb Thielbar and sent it 399 feet into the left-field seats for his first homer of the year. A spark.
Four batters later and the Tigers had taken the lead and held on to salvage a split with the Twins in the four-game series at Comerica Park, 4-3. It was the 800th managerial win for skipper AJ Hinch.
"I finally got one," said Báez, who had gone 83 plate appearances since he last hit a homer in Anaheim on Sept. 15 last season. "I'm still working. Today I feel good. Yesterday I felt good, too. Just need to be consistent every day and take it out there. I've been thinking too much. Once I slow everything down, I should be good."
It was a most improbable rally, at least according to Statcast data. After Báez’s homer, Carson Kelly, against right-handed reliever Griffin Jax, reached on a ground ball (84 mph off the bat) that shortstop Willi Castro couldn’t field. It was scored a single.
Riley Greene then rolled a ground ball through the middle — hit probability .130 — sending Kelly to third.
With runners at the corners, Mark Canha hit a tricky bouncer to third base that got through third baseman Kyle Farmer. Hit probability was .080. Both runners scored to tie the game.
"Joey (Cora) is coaching third base, so I know I'm going," said Greene of his first-to-home dash. "Right when I saw the ball down the line and I saw that he missed it, I was thinking home. Once I saw Joey waving, just going nuts, then I was like, 'OK, put the head down and get there.'
"But I knew it had a shot to get all messed up."
Canha significantly rumbled to third base on the play and scored the game-winner on a bloop single to right-center by Spencer Torkelson.
"This is just another example of the near-safe, near-out discussion — you've got to play aggressively," Hinch said, alluding to the seven bases runners the Tigers have had thrown out this season. "Everything matters on that play. The bounding ball down the left-field line, you don't know if it's going to hit that cutout and Riley has to get a good secondary lead and cut the bag at second and look at Joey.
"And Canha doesn't give up on the play and gets to third. That doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is. Their infield has to draw in and Tork has a chance to bloop a ball over the infield."
To that point, the Tigers had scored just two earned runs in their last 28 innings. And against Ober, they'd only managed three hits and weren't hitting many balls hard. Besides the hits, they'd managed to hit one other ball to the outfield. The 17 balls put in play against Ober had a meek average exit velocity of 81 mph, including six infield popups.
"We feel it," Hinch said of the mounting frustration. "We know what's going on. We know how tough it's been recently. You try your best to block it all out but you need something positive to happen. You can preach patience and staying positive, but you need hits to feel good."
The fanbase, both among the 17,317 in the park and those across social-media platforms, was getting restless. Boo-birds and insults flew after the seven straight scoreless innings. Báez, who came into the game hitting .125 with no extra-base hits, was and has been the target of a lot of it
"I know it's frustrating for the fans," Báez said. "But that doesn't really help the team or the organization. If we are grinding together, we should stand up together. We should stay together when we're down. It's not only here. This is happening in other organizations and to other players."
The boos, Báez said, are part of the bargain. But being verbally abused, on a personal and lewd level, is not.
"It doesn't affect me, to be honest," he said. "People talk trash, they're behind the netting, they can say anything. I just worry about playing good for my team and my organization. Booing is fine. But when they start saying other stuff and cussing at you, it's different.
"You got families and kids out there. That's not what they are there for."
Right-hander Jason Foley locked down the ninth for his fourth save. But there was drama. He walked pinch-hitter Matt Wallner and then Edouard Julien with two outs. That brought up Ryan Jeffers, who menaced the Tigers all series, collecting six hits in the last three games.
But Foley got him to ground out to end the game.
"That one was special," said Tigers' starter Jack Flaherty who posted a quality start allowing three runs in 6.1 innings. "And it started with Javy. That was a huge swing and from the there the guys kept tacking on runs. Up and down everyone contributed.
"That's tough when you are down three runs in the eighth inning and come back and win. These are the ones that you will enjoy the entire year."
Flaherty struggled to get ahead of hitters in the first couple of innings, especially in a 31-pitch second when he walked two and gave up a two-out, two-run single to Jeffers. In the fourth inning, Twins catcher Christian Vazquez clipped a first-pitch slider and knocked it over the wall in left.
But something clicked after that. Flaherty’s fastball started to tick up. He was sitting at 93-94 mph early but in the fifth and sixth innings, he started ripping 96- and 97-mph heaters. He started getting ahead in counts, too, which made his slider and knuckle-curve more effective.
"Just started moving better," said Flaherty, who struck out eight. "At some point, you just start ripping it. It was one of those things. I started moving better. I got a little pissed off (in the second inning) but I was able to translate it the right way.
"Once I got going and stepped on the gas, things started coming out better."
Hinch said he didn't think anything about his milestone win until the players, one by one, starting coming up and congratulating him.
"Yeah, Chafe (Andrew Chafin) just told me I'm getting old," Hinch said. "I've been around a little bit. But that was awesome."
The 800 wins puts Hinch fourth now among active big-league managers
"I appreciate it," he said. "These wins are hard to come by at this level. I've been so fortunate to have the opportunity to be a leader and a manager. You take any win but this one means a little more."
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky