BALTIMORE — Tigers manager A.J. Hinch may have told the world Wednesday night it was the right choice to let Miguel Cabrera take a shot at his 500th career homer in Thursday’s series finale against the Orioles.
But he hadn’t convinced himself.
“The more I thought about it, the more I didn’t feel good about it,” Hinch explained before Thursday’s finale. “I go in, I see what he’s got to do to prepare himself after a long game, it’s close to midnight, and he’s in the tub getting his postgame treatment.
“So I went and took a shower, got back to the hotel and I still didn’t feel good about it. I told myself I was going to sleep on it.”
That bad feeling was still there Thursday morning, leading Hinch to change his mind and begin with Cabrera on the bench in Thursday’s late afternoon game after he swatted No. 499 in Wednesday’s 5-2 victory.
Detroit begins a six-game homestand on Friday against Cleveland, providing a sizable window for the future Hall of Famer to become the 28th player in baseball history — and the first from the Tigers — to achieve the feat in front of his home fans.
“Obviously, I have no idea if it could happen today, but our fans and everybody back in Detroit, I want them to be a part of it,” Hinch said. “I can get caught up in wanting it to happen as soon as possible. I have no idea if it can happen over the homestand.”
While Cabrera turned back the clock with a three-hit, two-RBI game Wednesday, the 38-year-old is not the power threat he was during a prime that included 11 All-Star appearances, four AL batting crowns, two AL home run titles and two AL MVPs.
In other words, it’s certainly possible he needs more than six games to reach 500, and there were also other factors that made sitting Cabrera a reasonable choice.
The most obvious? The Tigers were playing a late-afternoon start, with temperatures in Baltimore forecast to reach into the upper 90s. They waited out a total of more than three hours of delayed starts between the first two games of the series. And the 38-year-old Cabrera played nine innings at first on Wednesday.
Cabrera is also 1-for-8 lifetime against Thursday O’s starter John Means.
That leaves open the chance of a late pinch-hit appearance, though Hinch didn’t wanna go there.
“We’ll see how it goes. … He’s 100% healthy, there’s nothing going on. How about we win by four and not worry about it?” Hinch deadpanned.