Detroit Tigers' Javier Báez, Eric Haase crush first homers in 6-5 win over New York Mets

Javier Báez, who crushed 31 home runs in 2021 before signing a six-year, $140 million contract with the Detroit Tigers, went through 100 plate appearances without a home run to start the 2023 season.

He finally hit a homer — in his 101st plate appearance of the season — in Game 1 of Wednesday's doubleheader. The Tigers' bats went cold after the third-inning long ball, but an eighth-inning rally gave them a 6-5 win over the New York Mets.

Eric Haase, responsible for a homer in the first inning, put the Tigers ahead for good with a two-run single in the eighth.

The Tigers (11-17) and Mets will play Game 2 of the doubleheader at 6:40 p.m., with Michael Lorenzen taking the mound for the Tigers and ex-Tiger Max Scherzer going for the Mets.

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Báez, who tallied 17 homers in 144 games last season, put the Tigers in front on the scoreboard, 4-2, with his moonshot off Mets left-hander Joey Lucchesi. He unloaded on a first-pitch curveball inside the strike zone with a 108.5 mph exit velocity for a 434-foot homer to left.

After Game 1, Báez is hitting .778 (7-for-9) with two doubles, three homers and one strikeout in his career against Lucchesi. Facing the Tigers, Lucchesi allowed four runs on five hits with zero walks and one strikeout across four innings.

He recorded just three swings and misses.

Báez has hit safely in 13 of his past 14 games, hitting .358 (19-for-53) with five doubles, one homer, three walks and 12 strikeouts during that stretch. He opened the season hitting .100 (4-for-40) with three walks and eight strikeouts in his first 11 games.

The Mets retired 16 batters in a row, following Báez's third-inning homer, until Matt Vierling reached safely on a bloop single with one out in the eighth. He stole second base, then Báez took a 92 mph fastball off the shoulder for a hit-by-pitch.

Riley Greene advanced both runners into scoring position with a groundout to the right side of the infield.

But Haase didn't strand his teammates.

He received a first-pitch sinker from right-handed reliever Adam Ottavino and produced with two runners in scoring position. He hit a line-drive single into center field for a two-run single — and a 6-5 lead — with two outs in the eighth.

Right-handed reliever Alex Lange shut down the Mets in the ninth inning, working around a one-out walk, and notched his fourth save.

Another first

Before Báez, the Tigers were sparked by Haase's first home run of the season in the first inning.

It was Haase's 71st plate appearance.

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Haase, hitting .265 in 22 games, watched Báez and Greene reach safely with one-out singles in the first inning. He caught a second-pitch sinker at the bottom of the strike zone and drilled the ball to right-center field.

The three-run homer, which traveled 373 feet, provided a 3-0 lead.

With two outs in the first inning, Jonathan Schoop watched a ball fly to left field and thought he would get his first home run, too. Instead, the ball took an unusual bounce off the wall.

One problem: Schoop watched the fly ball and didn't run hard to first base.

Rather than a triple, which would have been his eighth in an 11-year career, he settled for a 343-foot double. He was stranded at second base when Andy Ibáñez lined out to deep center field.

Bad pitching meets bad defense

Left-hander Joey Wentz surrendered a pair of solo home runs in a stretch of three batters in the second inning. Tommy Pham put Wentz's curveball, in an 0-2 count, over the wall in left field, while Mark Canha disposed of Wentz's fastball over the right-field wall.

The homers cut the Tigers' lead to 3-2.

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In the fifth inning, the Mets took advantage of defensive mistakes from the Tigers.

Brett Baty singled on a line drive to center field, but Greene missed the ball — rolling toward him on the outfield grass — and allowed Baty to advance to second. Greene was charged with a fielding error.

The next batter, Tomas Nido, singled on a ground ball into left.

Ibáñez, making his fifth start in left field as a pro, didn't need to throw the ball to home plate because Baty held up at third base, but Ibáñez let it rip anyway. The ball bounced near home plate, deflected off catcher Jake Rogers' chest protector and rolled to the front of the Tigers' dugout. Baty scored easily for the Mets' third run, and Ibáñez was charged with a throwing error.

The rain came down after the errors, but that only lasted a few minutes.

The errors stung for the rest of the game.

With two outs in the fifth, Francisco Lindor made the Tigers pay for their errors — and put the Mets in front, 5-4 — by hitting Wentz's changeup left over the heart of the plate. The ball traveled 427 feet to left-center field for a two-run home run.

Wentz allowed five runs on nine hits and one walk with two strikeouts in six innings, throwing 58 of 83 pitches for strikes. He generated four whiffs (one fastball, two cutters, one curveball) and 16 called strikes.

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

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers take Game 1 of DH from Mets, 6-5, on Eric Haase's hits