CLEVELAND -- Michael Lorenzen spent his first seven seasons in Cincinnati, watching Javier Báez make plays at shortstop from the other side of the National League Central. He doesn’t remember it fondly.

“I used to hate Javy,” he said. “Being in Cincinnati and having to play against him, I couldn’t stand it.”

He’d see the highlight plays in the field and marvel, but they made his job that much harder. He’d watch Báez almost contort himself to make a tag and wonder how he did it.

“But, it’s nice to be on his team,” Lorenzen said after Monday’s 2-0 loss to the Guardians at Progressive Field.

It says a lot that after arguably Lorenzen’s best start so far as a Tiger, and his second consecutive start of seven innings with one run allowed, the right-hander said more about the defense behind him than his own pitching. It started, not surprisingly, with Báez.

Yes, it was a hard-luck loss. The Tigers went 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base in their first scoreless defeat since Opening Day. Without Báez, they wouldn’t have had the tying run on base as often and as late as they did.

“The defense was insane behind me,” Lorenzen said. “We had some really good plays behind me, and I didn’t strike out a ton of guys tonight, so obviously the defense has got to do a good job behind me for us to be in the game the way we were.”

This is how the Tigers can get the most out of Lorenzen, whose dynamic arsenal has generally not reflected in his strikeout totals. While his swing-and-miss rates were near-elite in relief in 2019 and 2020, they’ve been more average in most years. He entered Tuesday in the 13th percentile for whiff rate, and the 22nd percentile for strikeout rate, according to Statcast.

The more soft contact he can get, the more his defense can go to work. With an average exit velocity of 90.5 mph, helped by a changeup he rediscovered, and only one ball in play harder than 100 mph, he played a struggling Cleveland offense right into his infield’s reliable hands.

While Báez’s streak of 29 consecutive plate appearances without striking out, a run that ended Monday, attracted more attention in recent days, his defense has had a similar upswing with less surprise. Sunday’s two-error game in St. Louis notwithstanding, Báez is doing some of his best work in the field since his best seasons with the Cubs that Lorenzen remembers with dread.

Báez entered Tuesday leading Major League shortstops with five outs above average and four runs prevented, according to Statcast, and tied for second with three defensive runs saved, according to FanGraphs. He hasn’t had that many outs above average in a season since 2020. He added to that Tuesday with two plays that likely helped keep runs off the board.

What looked like a two-out RBI single for Steven Kwan with a runner on second in the fifth inning became a diving stop up the middle by Báez. Not content with preventing the run, he got back to his feet quickly and threw out Kwan, whose sprint speed of 29.2 feet per second down the line was just off his fastest of the season.

It’s the kind of play where Báez’s difference this year has been greatest. He rated at minus-6 OAA on plays moving laterally towards first base last season, nullifying positive metrics in almost every other direction. He entered Tuesday at plus-1 in that direction this year, without infield shifts to put him in a better position.

An inning after Kwan’s grounder, Amed Rosario led off the sixth with a ground ball down the right-field line and immediately thought it would be a double. Matt Vierling collected it quickly and threw to second, but Rosario seemed on his way past Báez as the ball came in. Báez made a swipe behind as Rosario slid by, catching his back for the out.

“Obviously Vierling did a great job; he’s done that for me a couple times,” Lorenzen said. “But that tag from Javy is incredible. He’s unbelievable.”

It was the consolation in a defeat Tuesday thanks to Shane Bieber and Cleveland’s bullpen. But if Báez can keep it up -- a more realistic possibility than his low strikeout rate -- it’ll reward Lorenzen for filling the strike zone like he did Tuesday.