Javier Báez, bullpen help Tigers split series with 3-0 win against Guardians

CLEVELAND — It had been a minute. Since April 14. He had stepped into the batter’s box 183 straight times without hitting one.

So forgive Javier Báez as he stood at home plate and admired this one for a couple of seconds.

Báez swatted a hanging slider in the second inning and sent it 409 feet into the left-field bleachers at Progressive Field. That blast ended up being the difference in the game as the Tigers earned a split of the four-game set against the Central Division-leading Guardians with a 3-0 win Thursday afternoon.

The Tigers will come home with a 51-53 record having won the seven-game road trip through Toronto and Cleveland, 4-3.

Báez came into the game with a .236 slugging percentage and a .446 OPS and had been moved down to the ninth spot in manager AJ Hinch’s batting order for the first time in his three seasons in Detroit.

He talked on Monday about wanting to do more to help this team.

“I have to do more,” he said. “Obviously, Riley (Greene) is having a great year. But he can’t do it by himself. I want to be someone who can be there for him and protect him. I am trying to get there. Just stay healthy and start playing better.

“I know I can play better.”

His homer Thursday not only picked up the team, but it picked up Greene, as well, who endured a three-strikeout game.

The Tigers deployed a bullpen game for the second time in the series and this one went a lot better.

Lefty Tyler Holton got his second “start” of the series, making him the second pitcher since Tampa Bay’s Ryne Stanek in 2019 to start two games in the same series.

Holton’s two scoreless innings ran his zero streak to 16 consecutive innings over 12 outings.

Lefty Easton Lucas, in just his second outing since being summoned from Triple-A Toledo, impressively dispatched six straight hitters. His four-seam fastball was sitting at 95 mph and he was getting some bad swings and takes with his cutter.

Alex Faedo took down the fifth and sixth innings with three strikeouts. He gave up a single to Andres Gimenez in the fifth but immediately erased him in a 1-6-3 double play.

Jason Foley got the first two batters in the seventh before Josh Naylor hooked a double into the right-field corner. Guardians manager Stephen Vogt sent left-handed hitting Daniel Schneemann to pinch-hit for right-handed hitting Jhonkensy Noel.

Hinch countered with lefty Andrew Chafin. Advantage Tigers. Chafin struck out Schneemann.

Chafin put up a zero in the eighth, getting a 6-4-3 double-play ball from pinch-hitter Tyler Freeman and then passed it on to Shelby Miller for the ninth.

Done deal. Miller gave up a two-out walk to Jose Ramirez but sealed the win.