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DETROIT – Miguel Cabrera won for the first time since Tuesday. It struck for the first time in September. But as Cabrera’s hitting streak ended with nine batting appearances, the Rays’ batting trouble with the Tigers was only just beginning.
For four rounds on Friday night at Comerica Park, Cabrera was the only Tiger who could hit Rays starter Michael Wacha. By the time Detroit finished with the Tampa Bay reliever pen, a base-laden blow-by-blow to Jonathan Schoop looked like the Rays’ best-case scenario. The Tigers didn’t get that call, but two shots later, Schoop got a suspended slider from Andrew Kittredge and cleared the groundwork with his 20th home run of the season and fifth career grand slam, propelling Detroit to a 10-4 win.
It was a big win against the team with the best record in the American League. He’s also pursuing an acceleration to 3,000 career hits for Cabrera, now 27 on the road with 20 games to go. What seemed like a big milestone for next season could be a race that ends this season.
The more Cabrera’s cup line moves around the outfield like he has in his last few games, the closer it gets.
“To watch him hit nine hits, you see he still has it,” Schoop said. “Every time he gets into the box, Miguel Cabrera gets into the box.”
Cabrera has entered the game with hits in his last seven at-bat, the longest streak of his career. He’d hit just about every type of pitch the Pirates threw at him in Pittsburgh, and he continued on Friday against Wacha.
Wacha challenged Cabrera with a fastpitch of 94 mph in a 2-1 count on his first at bat before the second inning. Cabrera crushed him, sending a 109.8 mph line through center field. It was his fastest outing in the streak and his fifth hardest hit of the season.
Wacha started from there, taking out Detroit’s next eight hitters. He struck out five consecutive Tigers when Cabrera came home with two strikeouts in the fourth. Once again, Wacha put a fastball into the area, this time with a 1-0 count. Once again, Cabrera lined him up in the outfield, this time a single on the right for his 2,973rd career hit.
“It’s ridiculous,” Akil Baddoo said. “It’s definitely a nice thing when he’s on a roll like that. You can’t stop him when he sees the ball like that.
Cabrera had the longest hitting streak since compatriot Tiger Walt Dropo tied the Major League record of 12 in 1952. Cabrera also had the longest Major League player streak of. 38 years or more since another great of the Tigers, Ty Cobb, touched in nine consecutive appearances at bat in May 1925.
“It seems impossible when you see how good the pitching is, and obviously the defenses,” manager AJ Hinch said. “Miggy isn’t going to beat any singles in the infield, so he has to get some hits. And he swung the bat extraordinarily well in all parts of the field.
Cabrera took the lead in the sixth inning with a chance to push the streak into double digits and push Detroit ahead with runners in the corners, but he had to deal with JP Feyereisen’s wicked slider. Cabrera hadn’t swung and missed a pitch in his previous six strikes from a David Bednar curve on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, but he did on three shots against Feyereisen, whose 1-2 cursor sent control of Cabrera far enough to tie the appeal of first baseman James Hoye.
Ironically, the offensive attack began after Cabrera’s hitting streak ended. Jeimer Candelario followed Cabrera’s strikeout with a two-point brace on the center-field wall, his 40th brace of the year, giving the Tigers a 3-1 lead. Ji-Man Choi’s brace on José Cisnero’s goals pushed the Rays back to the lead in seventh, but Niko Goodrum’s brace quickly put Pete Fairbanks on the same path.
Schoop argued that Fairbanks’ 0-1 lead grazed his leg. He was so adamant about it that Hinch reported the replay without checking with his crew. However, the proofreading confirmed the call.
Two lengths later, the Tigers were glad they did. Schoop fouled one cursor for a count of 1-2, but he didn’t miss the next one at about the same spot.
“I was trying to throw a ball in the air and see it go up,” Schoop said. “Luckily he left one right away, a bit outside, and I put a good swing on it.”
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