LDN - Sports

Cabrera's homer pulls Tigers past Twins

[September 15, 2016] DETROIT -- Miguel Cabrera is adept at quieting naysayers with his bat.

The Tigers first baseman hit his 33rd home run of the season, a tiebreaking solo shot off the top of the railing on the wall in deep left center in the seventh inning Wednesday night, to lead Detroit to a 9-6 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

Cabrera drove a 1-2 pitch by Ryan Pressly (6-7) toward the flag pole in the Minnesota bullpen in left-center, and it glanced off the top of the yellow padding on top of the wall into the bullpen to give the Tigers a 7-6 lead.

"Pressly threw OK, but he made a mistake on the breaking ball. You could see it," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "That guy (Cabrera) doesn't miss too many of those. Then they were able to finish it off with their bullpen."

"I hit it good," Cabrera said of his 91st RBI of the season. "You play for this, the chance to make the playoffs."

Cabrera shrugged off negative things about the Tigers that have been posted in social media. He said he and his experienced teammates try to head off the disparaging comments before they affect what is going on in the clubhouse.

"It doesn't matter what people say," he said. "We hear a lot of bad things. You've got to stay positive."

Cabrera said he shoves his phone in his pocket between batting practice and game time to keep from reading negative comments, and he tries to counsel his younger teammates to do likewise.

Second-place Detroit has a series against the American League Central-leading Indians in Cleveland this weekend -- after playing Minnesota on Thursday afternoon.

"You got to focus. You can't look ahead," Cabrera said. "Focus on what you have to do when you go up to bat, when you run the bases, when you're on the field."

His home run made a winner out of Shane Greene (5-4), who pitched a scoreless seventh. Bruce Rondon worked the eighth, and Francisco Rodriguez gained his 42nd save for a run-free ninth.

Detroit added two unearned runs in the eighth. James McCann reached on a passed ball charged to catcher Kurt Suzuki while striking out. He was bunted to second, stopped at third on a single to left by Jose Iglesias and scored on a bloop single to center by Ian Kinsler, who collected his fourth hit of the game. Iglesias scored on reliever Michael Tonkin's wild pitch.

Brian Dozier smoked an RBI double to left to chase Detroit starter Anibal Sanchez and tie the score at 6 in the fifth.

"We hung in there," Molitor said. "We got back to even. Doz with another big hit. You just have to kind of fight your way through the last third (of the game)."

Andrew Romine's ground RBI single to center started a four-run Tigers rally in the fourth. Triples by Kinsler and Cameron Maybin tied the score at 5 and chased Twins starter Tyler Duffey. Cabrera greeted reliever J.T. Chargois with a single to right-center, putting Detroit on top 6-5.

Minnesota exploded for five runs in the fourth after Sanchez retired the first nine Twins in order, the first four by strikeout.

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Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera (24) signs autographs prior to the game against the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

"When you've got a lead, you try to go out there and shut them down the best that you can," Molitor said. "But you start off the inning with a walk and that's usually not a very good omen.

"We got in a position with two outs to try to get off the field. Kinsler got a ball he could handle. Two strikes on Maybin and he hits one in the gap. To give them back that quickly, that's kind of disappointing."

Dozier hit the first pitch of the fourth for his 41st home run of the season, extending his career-best hitting streak to 18 games and cutting Detroit's lead to 2-1.

"Doz got us going," Molitor said. "First hit, first run, homer. I don't know if he was sitting on that curveball, but he smoked it. And then we put together a couple good at-bats. (Jorge) Polanco and Kurt (Suzuki). Kurt got an off-speed pitch, too."

The Twins' Kennys Vargas tied the score at 2 with a sharp ground RBI single to right. Suzuki lined an 0-1 pitch into the left field seats for his eighth home run, a three-run shot that made it 5-2.

Kinsler gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead with a ground RBI single to center with two outs in the second. Detroit scored first, on doubles by Kinsler and Maybin to open the first inning.

NOTES: Tigers RHP Jordan Zimmermann, who has made just two starts since the end of June due to injuries, threw an 80-pitch simulated game Wednesday. However, no quick decision is expected on whether he starts again this season. ... With his double and homer Wednesday, Twins 2B Brian Dozier is three extra-base hits shy of tying OF/DH Tony Oliva for the club record of 84 in a season. ... Detroit 3B Nick Castellanos took a few feeble swings against Zimmermann before stopping due to lingering pain in his still-sore left hand. Manager Brad Ausmus isn't ready to say Castellanos won't be able to return this month but noted, "We're getting closer, for sure, but there's no reason to stop progressing him until we run out of time." ... Twins 1B Joe Mauer was out of the starting lineup for the fourth consecutive game due to a sore quad but was available to pinch-hit.

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