Javier Báez plays villain as Detroit Tigers beat Chicago White Sox, 1-0, on Opening Day

CHICAGO — Detroit Tigers shortstop Javier Báez, who spent the first eight years of his career with the Chicago Cubs and always receives boos from Chicago White Sox fans when he travels to the South Side, caught a pop-up in shallow left field to end the second inning. He turned toward the third-base line and threw the ball directly at the fans in the stands.

It wasn't a souvenir.

Thankfully, there's a net that protects the fans.

The Opening Day antics from Báez brought about another round of boos from the White Sox fans, then again moments later when he stepped to the plate as the leadoff hitter in the third inning. Báez slapped a ground-ball single into right field, stole second base and scored from third base on a sacrifice fly.

Just like that, the Tigers scored their first run of the 2024 season.

The Tigers beat the White Sox, 1-0, behind the early run from Báez and dominance on the mound from left-hander Tarik Skubal. The first-time Opening Day starter, a preseason American League Cy Young candidate, completed six scoreless innings with zero walks and six strikeouts, throwing 83 pitches.

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The Tigers (1-0) took the one-run lead into the ninth inning.

Left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin, who completed the eighth, retired the first batter in the ninth — left-handed hitter Andrew Benintendi — before giving way to right-handed reliever Jason Foley in a save situation.

Foley disposed of Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert Jr. to finish the game for his first of what could be many saves this season. He pained a 100.2 mph sinker down-and-in to Moncada for a called strikeout, then he blew a middle-middle 101.3 mph sinker past Robert for a swinging strikeout.

Right-handed reliever Shelby Miller delivered a scoreless seventh inning to set the table for Chafin and Foley.

Thanks to Skubal and the bullpen, the Tigers didn't need to score more than one run to beat the White Sox on Opening Day.

There was no one better than Báez to score that run.

He likes to play the role of a villain when on Chicago's South Side.

On his third-inning single, Báez dropped his bat in a cocky way after taking a few steps out of the batter's box. He pointed to the fans on his way to first base, as if celebrating a single wasn't enough. Báez stole second base, then advanced to third base on Parker Meadows' groundout.

He scored for a 1-0 lead on Ibáñez's sacrifice fly.

White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet covered six innings of one-run ball with a mix of fastballs and sliders. Crochet, a former reliever who started his first game since college, limited the Tigers to five hits and zero walks, racking up eight strikeouts.

He was outstanding.

But Skubal was even better.

He kicked off his AL Cy Young campaign with a scoreless performance, covering six innings. He generated 20 whiffs (on 49 swings) with 11 fastballs, five changeups, two sinkers and two sliders.

His fastball averaged 96.7 mph.

A special diving catch

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Left fielder Riley Greene wasn't afraid to dive in his return to Guaranteed Rate Field.

He suffered a non-throwing elbow injury — requiring Tommy John surgery — in his last visit to this ballpark. He injured his elbow on a diving catch Sept. 1 against the White Sox and missed the remainder of last season. Greene was tested in a similar situation exactly 209 days later, once again in left field, when he charged a hard-hit ball from Kevin Pillar and put his body on the line.

Skubal turned to left field and watched the play unfold.

Greene made the diving catch.

"Let's (expletive) go," Skubal screamed.

Aside from Greene's catch, Skubal didn't need much help from his defense against the White Sox. He primarily relied on strikeouts, including a swinging strikeout against Benintendi, a left-handed hitter, on a down-and-away slider in the first inning to begin his 2024 season.

Skubal also got weak contact.

Colt Keith's MLB debut

Colt Keith experienced something he'll never forget in the fourth inning.

He poked a down-and-away slider back to Crochet. The ball was deflected by Crochet, and although shortstop Paul DeJong tried to barehand it, he wasn't able to pick the ball out of the infield dirt.

It was ruled an infield single.

Keith ran 29.2 feet per second on his way down the first-base line.

The Tigers had a big opportunity to increase their one-run advantage in the eighth inning against Michael Kopech, a nasty but wild right-handed reliever, who loaded the bases with Kerry Carpenter (hit-by-pitch), Spencer Torkelson (single) and Mark Canha (walk).

With two outs, Matt Vierling chased Kopech's slider way below the strike zone for a swinging strikeout.

All three runners were stranded.

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

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers beat Chicago White Sox, 1-0, in Opening Day game