Electric Javy Báez walk-off HR vs Red Sox might've officially won Tigers fans over

In his fourth year as a Detroit Tiger, Javier Báez is doing something no one thought possible: he's playing well. On Tuesday, in the bottom of the 11th of a topsy-turvy second game against the Red Sox (with Boston up by two), Jace Jung, who was batting under .100 going into this game, had kept Detroit's hopes alive with a leadoff single that moved ghost runner Dillon Dingler to third and brought Báez up to the plate.

These three hitters were slotted in at the very the bottom of the Tigers lineup, which has long been a black hole in terms of offensive production for Detroit. But Báez, right there at No. 9, who had already hit a three-run homer to give the Tigers a lead in the bottom of the sixth, has been hot.

Red Sox reliever Greg Weissert, typically a one-inning guy, stayed in for the 11th despite giving up a game-tying single to Trey Sweeney in the 10th. That was the wrong choice on Alex Cora's part. Báez's at-bat was of the blink-and-you-miss-it variety; he saw an 80 MPH sweeper low in the zone and absolutely demolished it. It was almost effortless. Báez and the crowd at Comerica knew right away that one was gone, and the Tigers walked it off by a score of 10-9.

Báez was mobbed at home plate and quickly doused in whatever he teammates could get their hands on. As he spoke with sideline reporter Daniella Bruce to debrief, Comerica erupted in chants: "Javy! Javy! Javy!"

Javy Báez's walk-off HR against Red Sox was stunning continuation of his Tigers redemption arc

Ever since Báez's first home run of the season — a grand slam against the Astros on April 30 — he's been on an impossible run. With his performance on Tuesday, he's batting .368 with a 1.137 OPS in the month of May and forcing fans who have rightfully written him off to admit that maybe there's still some of that old magic dust on him.

Javy chants would've been unheard of just a month an a half ago. Tigers fans have had good reason to believe that the team would just have to drag him along until his contract ends and hope that the rest of their more promising, younger guys would be able to pick him up.

But this is a version of Báez that Detroit has never seen. He's not just getting dragged along; he's matching his teammates beat for beat, and the Tigers are all the better for it.