Cabrera homers off Bieber in snow, Indians fall
DETROIT — Miguel Cabrera homered through the snow in his first at-bat of the season, then added a sparkling play at first base to lift the Detroit Tigers to a 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Thursday.
Matthew Boyd (1-0) beat reigning Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber, and the Tigers welcomed their fans back to Comerica Park with a victory. The temperature at game time was 32 degrees, and the snow was starting to pick up a bit when
Cabrera connected for his 488th career homer.
Bieber (0-1) allowed two runs on Cabrera’s homer in the first inning, then another in the second. He pitched fine after that and ended up with 12 strikeouts in six innings.
Roberto Perez hit a tworun homer off Gregory Soto in the ninth, but Soto held on for the save. AJ Hinch won his first game as manager of the Tigers. The former Houston skipper missed last season while suspended in the aftermath of the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.
The 37-year-old Cabrera could reach both 500 homers and 3,000 hits this season. His production has fallen off in recent years, but his home run was a nice moment for the small number of fans who were able to attend this season opener — and he looked downright spry when he made a diving backhanded stop on Josh Naylor’s grounder in the fourth.
Cabrera was playing in the field for the first time since 2019.
The weather eventually cleared up, but the ballpark looked like a snow globe at times early on. When Cabrera sent a drive to right it wasn’t easy to see the ball and he slid into second, in case it was in play. The barely cleared the wall, and the home run was upheld after a review, giving Detroit a 2-0 lead and Cabrera his 2,867th career hit.
JaCoby Jones added an RBI double in the second, and Boyd kept the Indians quiet on offense in their first game since trading star shortstop Francisco Lindor in the offseason. The Detroit lefthander was making his second straight opening day start, and he’s hoping to bounce back from a 2020 season in which he posted a 6.71 ERA.