Pirates show appreciation for Tigers star Miguel Cabrera in possible last visit to PNC Park
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Mitch Keller was making the third start of his major-league career when he faced Miguel Cabrera, the Detroit Tigers star who was the last major-league hitter to win the Triple Crown.
The Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander remembers watching Cabrera on “Sunday Night Baseball” with his father, so Keller was surprised to see him taking offense to pitches thrown inside. When Cabrera went down swinging on a 3-2 fastball in the first inning, Keller decided that was where he was going to attack Cabrera again.
“Next at-bat, first pitch, it was inside, and he got a base hit with a runner on,” Keller said of Cabrera’s RBI single to center field in a 5-4 Tigers win June 18, 2019, at PNC Park. “He was baiting me to throw it in there. You can’t live in one spot. He’s a smart hitter. You can’t keep falling into a pattern. You’ve got to keep mixing it around.”
Now 39, Cabrera returned to Pittsburgh with the Tigers on Tuesday for a two-game interleague series against the Pirates in what could be his final appearance at PNC Park.
Regarded as one of the greatest right-handed hitters in baseball history, Cabrera has reached major-league milestones with 3,036 hits and 505 home runs in a career headed for Cooperstown. Cabrera plans to retire when his eight-year, $248 million contract expires after the 2023 season, and he is expected to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
“You can argue he’s one of the best right-handed hitters to ever play the game,” Pirates designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach said. “You don’t see many guys hit for average and power and walk the way he does. He’s just a pure hitter — takes his hits, doesn’t really chase, walks and hits home runs. It’s the ideal create-a-player, build-a-hitter type of guy.”
As much as the Pirates appreciate the opportunity to play against the two-time MVP, four-time batting champion and 11-time All-Star, they are well aware Cabrera is still capable of doing damage. The Tigers DH is hitting .301 with six doubles, three homers and 19 RBIs this season.
At PNC Park last year, Cabrera recorded seven consecutive hits in two games, including a ground-rule double off David Bednar and an RBI double off Keller. He stretched that streak to nine straight hits by going 2 for 4 against Tampa Bay the following game.
Cabrera won the Triple Crown in 2012, batting .330 with 44 home runs and 139 RBIs, becoming the first player to do so since Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. Pirates manager Derek Shelton, a former hitting coach with Tampa Bay and Cleveland and bench coach with Minnesota, called Cabrera the “best right-handed hitter I’ve ever seen.”
“With what he does, how he’s done it over the course of his career, the actual swing path, if you want to become a hitting nerd, what he does is unbelievable,” Shelton said, adding that Manny Ramirez is the only right-handed hitter who has been close to Cabrera in their era. “I was in Cleveland for five years and was able to watch it at the height of when he was doing what he was doing. That was not fun to watch.”
What is fun for Shelton is to give grief to Pirates third-base coach Mike Rabelo for his connection to Cabrera. A catcher for the Tigers, he was one of six players Detroit sent to the Marlins in the blockbuster trade for Cabrera and pitcher Dontrelle Willis in December 2007.
“Any time he comes to town, we can always give Rabs a little bit of jab because Rabs was traded for Miguel Cabrera,” Shelton said. “Any time we can do that, it’s fun.”
Shelton also finds it fun to watch Cabrera, except when he’s playing against the Pirates.
“I hope he hits 10 balls hard right at people,” Shelton said, “and he walks out and people appreciate that he played here.”