Javier Baez’s dramatic walk-off hit delivers Detroit Tigers 5-4 win over Chicago White Sox on Opening Day

DETROIT — The Javy Baez experience got off to a dramatic start on Opening Day after the newest Tiger walked off the White Sox with a base hit off the right-field wall, plating Austin Meadows with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday.

The play was initially called an out, but a video review clearly showed the ball bouncing off the wall before right fielder AJ Pollock bobbled, then caught it. The Tigers swarmed the field while home plate umpire Marvin Hudson made the announcement: Call overturned.

“I knew it hit the wall,” a jubilant Baez said after the 5-4 win. “I thought it hit the glove and then the wall and then he caught it. But it was backwards. It hit the wall then his glove then he caught it.”

Pollock was playing his first career game at Comerica Park after being acquired by the White Sox in a trade last week.

“I got really tight on the wall there,” Pollock said. “I felt it hit my glove but I didn’t know if it hit glove or hit the wall. Ball kind of popped up there and I caught it. I had no idea what to think of it. Was just kind of a funky play.”

The walk-off win capped a wild ending which saw White Sox closer Liam Hendriks blow leads in the eighth and ninth innings. Future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera tied the score in the eighth with his 2,988th career hit, a two-run single off Hendriks.

After Andrew Vaughn gave the White Sox the lead again with a home run in the ninth, a two-out triple by Meadows set the stage for Baez in the bottom of the inning. Manager AJ Hinch had a moment with Baez before the game winner.

“You can beat him with a single in that situation,” Hinch said. “It’s just trying to calm down the moment so you’re in control of the moment.”

It was good advice for Baez, who is known as a free swinger. He struck out in his first two at-bats — taking massive swings — but made a spectacular defensive play in between those plate appearances. Then he singled in the eighth before Cabrera tied it.

“When Javy hits it,…