Miguel Cabrera didn’t hit #3000, but he’ll be happy with a win
Fans stood to their feet and roared as Miguel Cabrera approached the plate, hoping to witness his 3,000th hit.
Instead, they witnessed his 236th intentional walk in his career.
Manager Aaron Boone and the New York Yankees made a wise strategic decision. In Detroit, this was a highly unpopular decision.
Cabrera went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts, forcing him and Tigers fans to wait at least another day for him to reach the 3,000-hit plateau, a feat accomplished by only 32 players in Major League Baseball history.
In the eighth inning, with the score 1-0, the Tigers loaded the bases with no outs against Miguel Castro. Lucas Luetge, the reliever, got Jeimer Candelario to hit a comebacker, which was turned into a double play.
Cabrera came up to bat with 2 outs and runners on top two. Because Boone held up four fingers to give Cabrera, the 39-year-old slugger didn’t even make it into the batter’s box.
Boone said the crowd reaction was unsurprising, but he didn’t like being in the position to make such a decision.
When Austin Meadows blooped a two-run double on a lefty-vs.-lefty matchup, the crowd of 21,529 quickly turned the jeers into cheers.
When the inning ended, Cabrera extended his hands as if to signal to the crowd that he was satisfied with how things went. He then raised three fingers and motioned toward the scoreboard to represent the runs his team scored on a sunny, 60-degree day in Detroit.
Michael Pineda (1-0) allowed just three hits in five innings of work against one of his former teams. Jacob Barnes, Wily Peralta, Alex Lange, and Gregory Soto, who earned his third save, pitched four scoreless innings of relief.
The Yankees were shut out for the third time this season, and their 39 runs in 13 games are the fewest since 1972.
New York was held to four hits in seven innings against 3 pitchers before Boone introduced a pair of pinch-hitters to provide an offensive spark.
On Lange’s first pitch of the eighth, Josh Donaldson doubled, Gleyber Torres singled, and Aaron Judge drew a one-out walk to end the right-brief hander’s appearance. Soto rescued the Tigers from a bases-loaded, one-out jam by inducing Anthony Rizzo to hit a comebacker, resulting in a force out at home, and Giancarlo Stanton to ground out to first.
Jordan Montgomery (0-1) became the first Yankee pitcher to complete six innings this season. He only allowed one run on 3 hits while striking out 5, but his teammates didn’t help him out offensively.
UP NEXT
The Yankees will begin a six-game homestand Friday night with RHP Jameson Taillon (0-1, 3.72).
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