Javier Baez off the bench: The Tigers shortstop pulled out of the game after forgetting how many bets were left in the half

Javier Baez’s second season with the Detroit Tigers couldn’t be better than his first. Thursday night, the shortstop was pulled from a Detroit game against the Toronto Blue Jays (GameTracker) in the second inning after forgetting how many outs there were, and doubled from second base on a fly ball to center.

Baez was on second base after he doubled earlier in the inning. He watched the ball fly into home plate and was slow to get out of the box, apparently thinking he hit a home run, but the ball hit the top of the wall. After hitting, he forgot he was back in second place in Aqil Badu’s lineup. Here’s Bayes forgetting the number of outs in an inning while he was on second base:

After the Tigers’ innings manager AJ Hinch made his way to Báez in the dugout and briefly discussed something with him. Jonathan Scopp came out to play defense in Bayes’ place the next inning.

This isn’t the first time Bayes has been pulled out of a game for forgetting the number of outs in a round. While with the Chicago Cubs on June 21, 2021, Báez was pulled by manager David Ross after he doubled from first base because he thought there were two outs when a fly ball was lifted to left field. Baez put his head down and kept running.

“We just have to make sure we focus on ourselves and shut ourselves up during the game,” he said. Ross told Chicago Sun Times after the game. “Sometimes our frustrations can distract us a bit. We had a good chat, and I think that’s behind us. Jaffe is really important to this team and he’s a leader in this team and sets a good example every time he’s on the field.”

The Tigers gave Baez a six-year, $140 million contract extension in their most recent offseason. He hit .238/.278/.393 with several lapses in the field and on the bases in 2022, and took the .100/.163/.100 hitting streak in Thursday’s game.