Detroit — Fans were chanting, “We want Miggy! we want Miggy!” throughout the game Saturday night. And Tigers manager AJ Hinch gets it. Miguel Cabrera’s illustrious career is winding down and the fans absolutely deserve to see him play as often as possible.
But there are going to be nights and days when it’s not possible.
Sunday was one of those days.
Cabrera was originally penciled into the Tigers’ starting lineup for the finale against the White Sox, but his chronically-inflamed right knee wasn’t cooperating.
“His knee has been bothering him since the White Sox game last week, when he was on base four times and slid a couple different times,” Hinch said. “He’s been dealing with the soreness since. We agreed that with the day off yesterday, a day off today and the off day (Monday), we will target Tuesday to get him back in the lineup and hope the soreness gets out of there.”
There are nine home games left for Cabrera. Hinch has methodically planned out Cabrera’s playing time throughout the season, with the goal of keeping him healthy and productive to the end. And, as a nod to the fans, he has tried to announce Cabrera’s playing time on a series-by-series basis.
But, always the plan is predicated on Cabrera’s health.
“We’re making sure the last few weeks are exactly what he wants,” Hinch said. “He’s been battling a few things and the last person I want to disappoint is Miguel. I want him to feel really good about how this all winds down.”
The hope is Cabrera will play two of the three games against the Reds this week.
Nasty again
Alex Lange, if you haven’t noticed, has recaptured his beast mode.
He ended a four-out save Saturday emphatically by punching out Gavin Sheets and Lenyn Sosa. That’s after he got Yoan Moncada to ground out, ending the eighth with two runners on in a 3-1 game.
“He can do that,” Hinch said, of the four-out save. “That role where he comes in, gets an out, comes back in and then goes back out — it’s right in his wheelhouse. But, it all starts and ends with the strike zone. The more he’s in it, the more they swing at those breaking balls that are nasty below the zone.
“This is a good version of him. It’s why we keep giving him the ball and stuck with him in his struggles.”
Lange has 22 saves and hasn’t been scored upon in 12 of his last 13 outings. He’s started to steal some strikes with four-seam fastballs, in addition to his sinker and changeup — all of which sets up his elite curveball. Elite because it has a 48% whiff rate, which is in the top-2 percentile in baseball.
“The other side has to pay attention to the game backwards,” Hinch said. “Similar to how we look at certain teams, like, ‘Man, the ninth inning is tough to score, so it’s an eight-inning game.’ If you can control the eighth, it’s now a seven-inning game.
“Then you have a bullpen the other manager has to manage against. There are no guaranteed outs, but they are high-likelihood outs with (Lange’s) swing-and-miss stuff. He shortens the game for us when he’s right.”
Englert shut down
The Tigers Sunday pulled right-handed reliever Mason Englert off his rehab assignment and brought him to Detroit for further medical evaluation.
“We need to see where he’s at physically with the hip, the firing of his body,” Hinch said. “The velocity is down and the struggle has been very obvious with him. He just isn’t quite right and rather than continue to nurse him out there at less than his best, we need to get the docs to look at him.”
In nine games at Triple-A Toledo, Englert has been tagged for nine runs in 11.1 innings, giving up four home runs. He’s also got 19 strikeouts. The Rule 5 draftee pitched in 31 games before the injury, posting a 5.46 ERA and 1.50 WHIP.
“Things clearly aren’t right for him and we can’t force it with this kid,” Hinch said. “As much as he’s given us and what he can do in the future. We have to make sure he’s healthy.”
White optioned
It felt like rookie reliever Brendan White had hit a wall. After a run of 10 straight scoreless innings through August, he’d allowed two runs in each of his last three outings.
On Sunday, he was optioned to Toledo to clear a roster space for Sunday’s starter, Sawyer Gipson-Long.
“I told him his year is not over,” Hinch said. “There’s still a possibility he can come back here, but he’s got some work to do.”
Counting his time in Toledo earlier in the season, White is at 72.2 innings. His fastball seemed to lose a little life and his sweeper was getting hit fairly consistently. He also struggled to control the running game (eight stolen bases and one caught stealing on his watch).
“The good in Whitey is that he’s tough on right-handed hitters and he can defend himself against lefties,” Hinch said. “He’s got two different shapes on his breaking ball and the fastball. But the conviction has to be there with it.”
Hinch encouraged White to get back to being ultra-aggressive, like he was when he first debuted with the Tigers. He needs to re-establish the arm-side fastball, meaning pitching inside to right-handed hitters to open the plate for his spin.
“There these small little things across his entire pitching resume that’s going to be the difference in him being here long-term or him always fighting for his roster spot,” Hinch said.
Speaking of debuts
With Gipson-Long making his big-league debut Sunday, Hinch was asked if he had a good story about catching a pitcher’s debut. Did he ever. He caught Tim Hudson‘s debut with Oakland in 1999.
“It was in San Diego, so it was an interleague game,” said Hinch, meaning Hudson got to bat. “As you study Tim Hudson, you realize he’s a better hitter than you and he’s hitting behind you.”
Hudson struck out 11 in five innings that day, plus drew a walk, got a hit and hit a ball that just went foul of being a homer. Hinch went 0-for-2.
“They pitched to me rather than pitch around me to get to the pitcher spot,” Hinch said, laughing. “I learned a lot that day. Like, I need to hit a lot better if I’m going to stick around this league.”
Twitter/X: @cmccosky