“Like Rickey Henderson said, ‘When you gotta go, you go,'” Miguel Cabrera said as his Detroit Tigers teammates erupted in laughter. “You don't think. When you go, you go. I always got it in my mind: Rickey said that, so I gotta do it.”
If you happened to watch Tuesday's game between the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals, you saw something you don't see very often as Tigers DH Miguel Cabrera, who is 39, stole third base in the seventh inning.
In case you missed it, here ya go.
Miggy has us
⚪️ Hooting
⚪️ Hollering
🔘 All of the above pic.twitter.com/oQbVoXGwdQ— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) July 13, 2022
Miguel Cabrera was back on the sandlot on Tuesday
Following the game, which the Tigers won 7-5, Cabrera was in a playful mood when he spoke to the media about his rare stolen base.
“My mind said go, so I go,” Cabrera said. “It was a good opportunity. We got to make something happen. Thank God I was safe.”
We hear from a jubilant Miguel Cabrera after he steals his first base in two years. #DetroitRoots pic.twitter.com/CoTEhZTLvh
— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) July 13, 2022
Tigers manager A.J. Hinch was as surprised as anyone when Miggy decided to break for third.
“He was something, and I guess the athlete in him broke out.”
“I was as surprised as anyone,” Hinch said, “but he did it. And in true [Miggy] fashion, he was laughing the whole way home.”
But Hinch wasn’t the only one shocked that Miguel Cabrera did what he did.
“Yeah, 100 percent,” Royals reliever Jose Cuas said. “That’s the last thing on my mind, is that he was going to steal a base. He got it. And he scored. Beat me. Fooled me.”
“He got a really good jump,” Royals catcher MJ Melendez said. “I didn’t get the best grip on it. I tried to force a throw. You live and you learn from it. He’s a vet, he knows what he’s doing, and obviously not the fastest guy, but he picks his time to do stuff like that.”
Tigers catcher Eric Haase, who was at-bat during the play, saw Miggy's instincts kicking into gear right in front of his eyes.
“Pure speed and athleticism,” Haase joked. “Obviously Miggy's baseball instincts are very good. With the third baseman giving him so much [ground], no one picked him up until he was like three-quarters of the way to the base, so we're all laughing.”
“Big smile on his face, just like a little kid playing sandlot baseball again,” Haase said. “It’s hilarious. We all think it’s fun, but that run ended up being huge.”
It was a milestone game and a crazy game for Cabrera all in one night as he passed Ken Griffey Jr. on the all-time RBI list and for the first time in his 20-year MLB career, he had multiple RBIs and scored a run WITHOUT GETTING A HIT!
