He needed a moment like this. The introduction of Javier Báez to the Detroit Tigers’ fanbase has been rough, to say the least. After starting out hot, the mercurial shortstop went into a dreadful funk for nearly two months. The pain was real.
However, things have been better of late, and on Friday night in Arizona against the Diamondbacks, Báez came through with a huge blast in the third inning against right-hander Merrill Kelly. After two quiet innings, Eric Haase got things started with a ground ball single, and leadoff man Victor Reyes did the same.