Detroit slugger
Cabrera becomes first Venezuelan to hit 500 home runs.
TIGERS 5, BLUE JAYS 3 (11)
TORONTO — Miguel Cabrera celebrated with his teammates on the Detroit Tigers. He took a curtain call on the road. He paid tribute to his family, his team and his native country.
It was quite a day, even for one of baseball’s most accomplished sluggers.
Cabrera became the 28th major leaguer to hit 500 home runs, reaching the milestone in the sixth inning Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The 38-year-old Cabrera connected on a 1-1 pitch from left-hander Steven Matz, sending the ball over the scoreboard in right-center field. Measured at 400 feet, the home run tied the game 1-1.
Many of the 14,685 fans at Rogers Centre rose for a standing ovation as Cabrera rounded the bases. After celebrating with his teammates, he came out of the dugout to accept a curtain call, taking off his helmet and bowing to the crowd behind Detroit’s dugout.
Cabrera, who won the Triple Crown and the first of back-to-back MVP awards in 2012, is the first Venezuelan to hit 500 home runs. He is hoping to become the first hitter to reach 500 home runs and 3,000 hits in the same season.
“It’s something special for my country, for my family, to be able to do this,” he said after Detroit’s 5-3 victory. “I’m really happy.”
Jeimer Candelario, who was on deck, was the first teammate to celebrate with Cabrera.
“When he hit that ball, I knew something special was about to happen and history was about to happen,” Candelario said. “For me, being a part of that is a blessing. It helped us to win a ballgame, too.”
Cabrera’s 500th home run was hit No. 2,955 of his career, and he can reach that 3,000 milestone this year, too, if he can stay healthy and average one hit per game. Only six players have 3,000 hits and 500 home runs: Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Rafael Palmeiro, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez and Eddie Murray.
His pursuit of these big numbers has become a bright spot for a Detroit team that finally seems to be emerging from a difficult rebuild, approaching a .500 record.
Cabrera is the sixth player born outside the United States to reach 500 home runs. He joins Pujols, Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, who reached the mark in 2015 and was the last to pull off the feat before Cabrera.
He is also the first player to reach the mark in a Tigers uniform.
“So proud for him and his family, and a career accomplishment so rare you may never get to be a part of this again,” Manager A.J. Hinch said. “We have no idea who the next person can be to pass this big number.”
In 2012, Cabrera became the first player in 45 years to win the Triple Crown by leading the league in batting average, home runs, and RBI.
When Cabrera made his major league debut with the Marlins in 2003, he was just 20 years old. He helped them win the World Series that year.
The Tigers acquired him in a trade with the Marlins in 2007, a year after losing the World Series to St. Louis, in the hopes that he would help them win a world championship for the first time since 1984.
However, the Tigers have never won it all with the slugging superstar. They lost in the 2012 World Series to San Francisco and later in the decade went into a rebuilding mode that bottomed out with 310 losses between 2017-19.
Cabrera’s hitting and his jovial onfield demeanor made him popular in Detroit, but his production has dipped significantly in recent years as age and injuries caught up with him.
RAYS 9, WHITE SOX 0 Francisco Mejia hit a three-run double for Tampa Bay, and five Rays pitchers combined on a seven-hitter to defeat Chicago.
MARINERS 6, ASTROS 3 (11) Ty France homered in the ninth inning and singled in J.P. Crawford in the 11th, leading Seattle to the win over Houston.
INDIANS 3, ANGELS 0 Amed Rosario hit a two-run home run in the first inning and Cal Quantrill struck out nine and allowed only two hits in seven innings as Cleveland bear Los Angeles.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
METS 7, DODGERS 2 J.D. Davis homered and drove in four runs, and New York snapped Los Angeles’ nine-game win streak. CARDINALS 3, PIRATES 0 Adam Wainwright pitched eight innings of two-hit ball and Paul Goldschmidt homered, leading St. Louis over Pittsburgh.
REDS 3, MARLINS 1 Tyler Naquin hit two home runs and Vladimir Gutierrez pitched seven effective innings, helping Cincinnati complete the four-game series sweep of Miami.
PHILLIES 7, PADRES 4 Rhys Hoskins homered twice for Philadelphia in his return from the injured list, and Kyle Gibson pitched eight strong innings to defeat San Diego. DIAMONDBACKS 8, ROCKIES 4 Daulton Varsho hit a three-run home run and Arizona beat Colorado.
BREWERS 7, NATIONALS 3 Kolten Wong homered and drove in three runs, powering Milwaukee over Washington.
INTERLEAGUE
BRAVES 3, ORIOLES 1 Jorge Soler homered, Touki Toussaint pitched effectively into the sixth inning, and Atlanta extended Baltimore’s losing streak to 18 games. Baltimore’s skid is the longest in the major leagues since Kansas City dropped 19 in a row in 2005.
GIANTS 2, ATHLETICS 1 Pinch-hitter Donovan Solano connected for a two-run home run on the first pitch he saw from A.J. Puk with two outs in the eighth inning, and San Francisco rallied past Oakland.
ROYALS 9, CUBS 1 Andrew Benintendi (Arkansas Razorbacks) drove in three runs, and Kansas City finished a three-game series sweep of Chicago. It was Chicago’s franchise-record 13th consecutive loss at Wrigley Field.