Miguel Cabrera and Casey Mize couldn’t help but smile on their way back to the dugout.
“Miggy, I didn’t think I needed to go,” said Mize, who made a late break to first base when Cabrera bobbled the ball on a grounder from speedy Cedric Mullins in the fifth inning. Mize, though, was quick enough to record the third out.
“Well, I’m glad you did papa,” Cabrera said.
“We got him, so don’t worry about it,” Mize responded.
Cabrera is 38 years old; Mize is 24. Cabrera has played 19 years in the big leagues; Mize is in Year 2. Cabrera boasts 2,537 career games, with a .311 batting average, 2,939 hits and 497 home runs; Mize has a 4.13 ERA over 27 career games, but he is now making a run for American League Rookie of the Year with a 3.41 ERA in 20 starts this season.
Despite their differences in age, experience and success, Cabrera and Mize are both Detroit Tigers. They’re also the best of competitors, which means they hate losing. In Thursday’s 6-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles, Cabrera and Mize — the past and the future — teamed up in the present for Detroit’s third win in a row and 10th straight victory at Comerica Park.
The Tigers (50-55) are 41-31 since May 8 and 10-4 since the All-Star break.
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Cabrera went 3-for-3 with two home runs, two RBIs and one walk. Mize, a former No. 1 overall draft pick, pitched seven dominant innings, allowing one unearned run on four hits and two walks with two strikeouts. He only needed 88 pitches, of which 54 went for strikes, because he generated weak ground-ball contact early in counts.
The pair of opposite-field shots pushed Cabrera three home runs away from No. 500. He is also 61 hits away from No. 3,000 in his career. The fans cheered each time the newly installed “Miggy Milestones” tracker at Comerica Park changed numbers.
These are big moments.
“We’re all into it, and we’re watching him,” manager AJ Hinch said. “We’re winning more games. He wants to win, he wants to play. He’s contributing on defense. He’s allowing all of us to make it a big deal for him. … He’s enjoying it. He doesn’t want to talk about it a ton, and we don’t want to put more pressure on him. But I know he approaches the fan support, loves his teammates and loves winning.”
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And Mize’s contributions were significant, too. He was coming off a July 24 start in Kansas City where he was allowed to pitch into the fifth inning, but he only recorded two outs in the fifth before Salvador Perez drilled a three-run home run to chase Mize. (He was under pitch-count limits in his first four starts in July.)
So what he accomplished Tuesday without restrictions tasted a bit sweeter.
“The fifth was going to be my last inning,” Mize said, “and I definitely did not envision it ending in a three-run homer, giving up four runs, and we eventually go on to lose the game. It’s definitely a good bounce back game for myself. Hopefully I can carry it over into the next one.”
Mize isn’t chasing any rare historical numbers like Cabrera, but he is trying to pitch as many innings as possible, limit as many runs as possible and put his team in a position to win games. He is well established, enough so to be involved in the Rookie of the Year race.
It could be close down the stretch with outfielder Akil Baddoo (Tigers), outfielder Adolis Garcia (Texas Rangers), right-hander Luis Garcia (Houston Astros), outfielder Randy Arozarena (Tampa Bay Rays) and other rising stars.
“As he goes deeper into the game, he gets better and better and better,” third baseman Jeimer Candelario said. “That helps him be consistent and win ballgames. It’s always exciting to have him on the mound.”
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Cabrera and Mize worked together defensively, as well.
When they smiled coming off the field in the fifth inning, it’s because Mize had Cabrera’s back. Cabrera fielded a grounder from Mullins, and he should have had enough time to gather himself and touch first base. But Cabrera fumbled the ball, so Mize rushed over to cover the bag.
The Cabrera-Mize connection in the field also happened in the second inning, when Ryan McKenna grounded out and Mize covered first base. When Mullins tried to bunt in the third, Mize made an excellent defensive play and fired to Cabrera for an out.
“Casey is one of the best defending pitchers in the league,” Hinch said. “He’s really good off the mound.”
“I love when Miggy’s at first base,” Mize said. “I know we’ve got a few guys that can play it, and they do a great job, but when Miggy’s on the field, I especially love it. Tarik (Skubal) and I talked about that. We love when Miggy is over there because he’s always talking.”
In the first inning, Mize flashed his defense. He fielded a come-backer from Trey Mancini after allowing a leadoff triple to Mullins. Mize “changed the course of the game entirely,” Hinch said, by immediately throwing to catcher Eric Haase to put Mullins in a rundown.
Candelario eventually tagged him out.
In the second inning, Cabrera’s defense stood out. Domingo Leyba hit a bouncer to first base, and Cabrera jumped into the air to keep the ball from finding its way into right field. Cabrera threw the ball to shortstop Zack Short at second base and hustled to first ahead of Short’s return throw for a double play.
“The double play he turned was a really, really tough play,” Mize said. “That throwing lane is tough. To see him still be able to do that at such a high level is awesome.”
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The most memorable moments from Cabrera, however, came in the fifth and seventh innings.
He drilled a fastball from Orioles left-handed starter Alexander Wells with one out in the fifth, lining the ball 363 feet over the right-field wall. His ninth home run this season — and first at Comerica Park since Opening Day on April 1 — gave the Tigers a 4-0 lead.
“He’s still a threat,” Hinch said. “Regardless of what the overarching numbers speak to over the last few years, he’s a threat every time that he swings the bat. He’s still Miguel Cabrera.”
Cabrera did the same with two outs in the seventh, ripping a 380-foot solo homer to right field for a 5-1 lead. This time, he hit righty reliever Adam Plutko’s fastball for his 10th blast in 2021. He also recorded a single to in the first inning and a seven-pitch walk in the third.
It marked the 43rd multi-homer game of Cabrera’s career and his second this season. (His other in 2021: A two-homer affair May 21 against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.) His 43 multi-homer games rank third-most in MLB since 2003, behind Alberto Pujols (59) and David Ortiz (49).
“He’s a spark plug for our team,” Mize said. “Whenever he gets rolling, I don’t know if you can stop us. He’s definitely our leader, so it’s pretty cool for me to see it in person because it’s not something I thought I would be able to do as a kid.”
Evan Petzold is a sports reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.