Miguel Cabrera Shakes Young Fan’s Hand: Tigers Get 11th Straight Road Win
The Detroit Tigers won their 11th straight game on the road Sunday night beating the Boston Red Sox 6-2 completing a three game sweep and Miguel Cabrera made a young fan’s night by shaking his hand.
As Cabrera walked from the dugout to the on-deck circle in the fifth inning, a young fan came to the front row and put out his hand asking the best hitter in baseball to shake his hand. “Miggy” obliged. He was 5-for-6 with a home run, two doubles and three RBIs in his last six at-bats.
ESPN broadcaster of “Sunday Night Baseball” Dan Shulman rhetorically asked “Is he relaxed, is this guy relaxed?” John Kruk replied “Wouldn’t you be? If you knew you were the best hitter on the planet, you’ve got a great long-term contract.” Shulman said “What did (Tigers manager) Brad Ausmas say before the game, ‘He’s just like a big kid who loves being part of a team.'”
Before the season Cabrera signed a 10-year $292 million contract extension.
Detroit ran their MLB leading best record to 27-12 and improved their road record to 14-4. They have won 15 of their last 18 games and start another road series Monday night against the Cleveland Indians.
Anibal Sanchez, making his first start off a stint on the disabled-list due to a blister on his finger, picked up the win, pitching five solid innings. He gave up two runs (one earned) with five relievers shutting down Boston the rest of the game.
The top four hitters in the Tigers lineup did most of the damage. Ian Kinsler, Torii Hunter, Cabrera and Victor Martinez went a combined 10-for-19.
Kinsler had four hits and scored twice. Hunter had two hits and hit a solo home run over the green monster. Cabrera had three hits with 2 RBIs and Martinez hit a two-run shot in the third inning. All four are hitting over.300.
It was Boston left-hander Felix Doubront’s turn in the rotation to start Sunday, but manager John Farrell moved up Jake Peavy due to Detroit’s success against lefties.
“With the top of their order, any mistake we made, we paid for it,” Yahoo Sports reported Farrell as saying. “They came in swinging the bats well, and when Jake (Peavy) missed his location, that lineup made us pay for it.”
“He was actually pretty crisp. Fastball, changeup, slider all looked pretty good,” Ausmus said about Sanchez. “Command around the zone was pretty good. We wanted to stop him around 85ish pitches. He got us through five. A pretty good first start back of the DL.”
[Image via espn.com]
