Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera just keeps adding to his Hall of Fame resume.
He launched a home run tonight against the Kansas City Royals, his second long ball of the season and the 479th of his career to knot the score at 1-1:
Tonight's First Tigers Home Run, Brought To You By Miggy!
Come for the oppo homer, stay for Miggy making faces.#DetroitRoots | #ByeByeBaseball pic.twitter.com/vd3leUMpT2— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) July 30, 2020
With the home run, Cabrera is now 30th overall in MLB history for home runs, and needs just 14 more to reach Lou Gehrig and Fred McGriff for 28th all time.
Additionally, Cabrera broke a tie with Hank Greenberg for 5th most extra-base hits in club history with 742.
The Tigers lead the majors with 13 home runs now in seven games played. For reference, last season, they didn’t reach 13 home runs until game No. 21.
BONUS CONTENT: ROYALS EXPLAIN UNIQUE DEFENSIVE STRATEGY AGAINST MIGGY
Detroit Tigers designated hitter Miguel Cabrera may not have the power that led him to the MLB Triple Crown in 2012, but he still commands respect from the opposition.
So much in fact, that the Kansas City Royals deployed a unique defensive strategy against him during Monday night’s game at Comerica Park.
How about a seven-man outfield scheme?
Kansas City spaced their infielders on their normal sides of 2nd base – all of whom were standing on the outfield grass.
“A lot of it has to do with our arms,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “Maikel Franco can throw across the infield and Mondi has the plus arm. It is sort of one of those things where we’ll always look to see how we can gain an advantage.”
Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire described the strategy as a first, and “interesting”:
“That was interesting,” Gardenhire said after the game. “We hadn’t seen that, but I can see their thinking. Miggy doesn’t run like he once did. We talked about it and kind of studied the thing out,” Gardenhire said. “And I’m sure they’ve done their homework on it. But when they were spread out like that, playing 7 to 10 yards deep on the grass, it sure looked like there were more holes than with the other shift.
