DETROIT — Miguel Cabrera’s quest for his 500th career home run will intersect with Shohei Ohtani’s much-anticipated start at Comerica Park on Wednesday night. But the Tigers will be just as concerned about getting their offensive mojo back against one of baseball’s nastiest pitchers.
For a fourth consecutive game, fans packed the outfield seats Tuesday night in hopes of catching a glimpse of Cabrera’s milestone homer, if not the ball itself, and a large crowd waited to go crazy to celebrate a Hall of Fame accomplishment. Instead, a fan in the left-field seats ended up with Jo Adell’s first career grand slam, a go-ahead drive in the ninth inning that silenced home fans and sent the Tigers on their way to an 8-2 loss to the Angels.
Cabrera went 0-for-2 with a pair of four-pitch walks Tuesday. Both two-out walks drew loud boos from the crowd, and served as a reminder that no pitcher wants to be on the other end of a milestone homer. But both also served a strategic purpose for the Angels.
Neither Tigers starter Casey Mize nor Angels counterpart Dylan Bundy lasted five innings, surrendering two runs each. Mize battled command with four walks and a wild pitch, but he got help from four strikeouts. The game essentially became a battle of bullpens from there before Adell made Tigers closer Gregory Soto pay dearly for loading the bases in the ninth.