The Detroit Tigers brought the best record in baseball into a series with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday. After dropping a set to the Cincinnati Reds over the weekend, they were looking to get back on track against Pittsburgh. One of the stars of the Tigers' excellent start this year has been Javier Baez, bouncing back from a few dreadful years. He pounced on Pirates' pitching on  Tuesday, smoking two homers to secure the victory.

Baez hit a homer in the fifth inning off Pirates starter Bailey Falter to tie the game at three. And then, he led off the seventh with another solo shot off of reliever Carmen Mlodzinski, which pushed the Tigers' lead to 5-3. Riley Greene also had a great game, scoring the game-winning run in the sixth a smoking a homer in the seventh to pad the lead. Both Greene and Baez are in the top five in AL All-Star voting among outfielders.

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Baez is up to nine homers and 35 RBIs in 62 games this season. In 80 games last year, he only amassed six homers and 37 ribbies. Nearly every stat is better in 2025 for Baez, with his batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage all significantly higher. He is still striking out a lot and not walking enough, but those are small problems compared to last year's disaster.

The Tigers' surge at the end of last year almost exactly coincided with Baez suffering a season-ending injury. But he has been a positive addition to the team this year while learning a new position. Even with Trey Sweeney struggling at short, Baez has primarily been playing center field and doing it well.

The Tigers and Pirates play Game 2 of their series on Wednesday night in Detroit. They'll have Tarik Skubal on the mound looking to win the series in the decider.