DETROIT – Miguel Cabrera has left for the first time since Tuesday. It first came out in September. But even though Cabrera’s successful streak ended in nine bats, the Rays ’problems with the Tigers batters were just beginning.
For four innings on Friday night at Comerica Park, Cabrera was the only tiger that could reach the start of Rays Michael Wacha. When Detroit finished with the Tampa Bay bullpen, a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch for Jonathan Schoop seemed like the Rays ’best case. The Tigers didn’t get that call, but two pitches later, Schoop got a slip from Andrew Kittredge and cleared the bases with his twentieth homer of the season and his fifth big career slam, getting Detroit to a win. for 10-4.
It was a great win against the team with the best record in the American League. It also continues an accelerated pace towards Cabrera’s 3,000 professional successes, which is now 27 players short of 20 games to finish. What seemed like a milestone for next season could now be a race that comes to an end this season.
The more Cabrera narrows the bar line around the outside field as he has done in his last few games, the closer he looks.
“To see him hit nine times straight, you see he still has it,” Schoop said. “Every time he enters the box, it’s Miguel Cabrera who intervenes in the box.”
Cabrera entered the game successfully in his previous seven bats, the longest streak of his career. He had hit almost every type of throw the Pirates threw at him in Pittsburgh, and held him Friday against Wacha.
Wacha challenged Cabrera with a fast ball of 94 km / h in a 2-1 count in his first bat-bat at the head of the second inning. Cabrera crushed her and sent a 109.8 mph line into midfield. It was his highest streak exit speed and his fifth toughest hit of the season.
Wacha retired from here, retiring the next eight Detroit hitters. He bounced back five consecutive Tigers when Cabrera returned to the plate with two outs in the fourth. Again, Wacha put a quick ball into the area, this time with a 1-0 lead. Again, Cabrera lined him up for the field, this time a field single opposite the right for his 2,973 career success.
“It’s ridiculous,” Akil Baddoo said. “It’s definitely a beautiful thing when he’s in a role like that. You can’t stop him when he sees the ball like that. “
Cabrera had the longest streak of bats successfully since teammate Tiger Walt Dropo tied the Major League 12 record in 1952. Cabrera also had the longest streak for a 38-year-old Major League player. or more from another great of the Tigers, Ty Cobb, struck in nine consecutive bats in May 1925.
“It feels impossible when you see the good launch and obviously the defenses,” manager AJ Hinch said. “Miggy will not eliminate a single field goal, so he must have clear successes. And he has turned the bat extraordinarily well in all parts of the field.
Cabrera entered the set in the sixth inning with a chance to push the streak to double digits and push Detroit to the front with runners on the corners, but had to contend with JP Feyereisen’s nasty slider. Cabrera hadn’t changed and missed a throw in his previous six bats since he played a David Bednar corner ball Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, but he did so on three throws against Feyereisen, sliding 1-2 from which sent Cabrera’s check far enough to tie the appeal of first baseman referee James Hoye.
Ironically, the offensive attack began after Cabrera’s streak of successes ended. Jeimer Candelario followed Cabrera’s goal with a two-run double outside the center wall, his 40th double of the year, giving the Tigers a 3-1 lead. Ji-Man Choi’s base clearance double Jose Cisnero pushed the Rays forward in the seventh, but Niko Goodrum’s double quickly put Pete Fairbanks in the same situation.
Schoop argued that the Fairbanks 0-1 scrub grazed his leg. He was so emphatic about it that Hinch signaled to play again without consulting his crew. However, playback review confirmed the call.
Two launches later, the Tigers were glad he did. Schoop fouled 1-2.
“I was trying to get a ball in the air and see the ball up,” Schoop said. “Luckily, he left one up there, a little outside, and I put a good twist on it.”