DETROIT >> Javier Báez powered the offense, Tarik Skubal pitched like a reigning Cy Young winner and the Tigers capped off a weekend sweep of the Orioles, 7-0, on Sunday at Comerica Park.

Báez led an offense that plated seven runs on nine hits and was in some way responsible for the first three. Gleyber Torres added a pair of hits and three RBIs, and catcher Dillon Dingler also had a two-hit day. And the early offense wound up being all the Tigers (18-10) needed as Skubal slammed the door for six innings of shutout baseball before the bullpen did the rest against Baltimore.

The win ends a 10-game homestand that saw the Tigers go 8-2 and pull out to the best record in the American League. Detroit heads to Houston next for a three-game series. It’ll be the Tigers’ first trip to Daikin Park since winning a playoff series against the Astros last season, and the start of Detroit’s longest road swing of the season.

“We keep winning series, which is really key,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “If I’m going to look at the season as a whole, I try to break them up into as small increments as I can. And this series, we did a lot of things well. These guys are really doing things that are helping us win. And it’s one thing to win a series and then we finish it off. I know we’ve had a couple opportunities like this and fallen short and today we didn’t, with a really complete game.”

But the Tigers wouldn’t have managed the sweep without timely hitting and baserunning from Báez.

Prior to 2025, Báez’s three seasons in Detroit were most synonymous with his declining offense and his penchant for chasing pitches out of the zone, at times ignominiously so. In each of the past three seasons, he had more strikeouts than hits. His batting average declined season over season, too, bottoming out last year when he finished the season hitting .184.

But the version of Báez playing for the Tigers in 2025 has seemingly turned a corner. He shortened up his swing and changed his approach, both technically and mentally, as Hinch explained. He’s also done this while moving from the middle infield to the outfield for Detroit.

“He’s impacting wins and he’s in control of his at bats,” Hinch said after Sunday’s win. “He’s learning a position that he’s having a lot of fun with. He’s playing consistently. What’s not to like? The freedom that he’s playing with is also coming with incredible discipline. Whether it’s on the offensive side, which we’re seeing him control his bat, or the defensive side where he’s having to look in and make sure that he’s in the right spot in open space where he’s played very few games. Obviously thrilled for him for today and he helped us win.”

Entering Sunday with a .286 average across 74 plate appearances this season, Báez had maybe his best offensive performance of the season, batting out of the No. 9 hole.

It started with Báez’s first at-bat. With two outs and a pair of runners on in the second inning, Báez jumped on an early inside pitch, drilling it down the left-field line for a two-run double to open the scoring.

He’d keep his foot on the gas offensively in the fifth inning, aggressively taking second base on a fly out before scoring from second on a single by Torres to put Detroit ahead, 3-0. He’d steal a bag later in the game for good measure.

By the end of the afternoon, Báez finished going 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs, two runs scored and a stolen base. The Tigers tacked on a few more runs in the later innings for insurance, but the damage was done first and primarily by Báez.

“His feel for the game; it’s the stolen base when the pitcher’s 1.5, 1.6 (seconds to home), you can see he was starting to itch to go a little bit,” Hinch said. “It’s the tag up. His baseball IQ is through the roof. Those little, small plays are not small, but they’re somewhat unnoticeable in the big scheme of things that are in box scores. But they are incredibly important toward winning.”

With Báez pushing a few runs across early, the Orioles had little chance of putting together enough offense to win against Skubal.

From the start, the Tigers’ ace looked the part, overpowering the Baltimore lineup. It was the best his combination of pitches has looked all season, Hinch said, and Skubal generally concurred. The fastball had late life and his changeup was highly effective at changing the timing for hitters.

He retired six of the first seven batters he faced to start the game, five of them strikeouts, and started rolling from there.