Miguel Cabrera gets two big hits as Tigers shut out Marlins. Takeaways from the loss
It was Venezuelan Heritage Night at loanDepot park on Saturday, and the biggest celebrations from the nearly sold-out crowd of 32,936 weren’t directed toward the home team Miami Marlins.
The roar came each of the four times Miguel Cabrera stepped up to the plate for the Detroit Tigers.
And Cabrera, whose 21-year MLB career started with the Marlins and will come to an end after this season, gave the crowd what they wanted with his first at-bat.
His opposite-field double in the second inning paved the way for one of the key moments in the game — a three-run home run by teammate Akil Baddoo — to give the Tigers the lead for good in a 5-0 win over the Marlins to even the three-game series.
Cabrera went 2 for 4 overall, also hitting a two-out single in the ninth inning that led to another run scored via a Zack Short double to center field.
Miami falls to 56-49, including 3-10 since returning from the All-Star Break, and has now been shut out seven times this season. Detroit improves to 47-58 and snaps a four-game losing streak.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Opportunities wasted
The Marlins had nine baserunners on Saturday against Detroit, including at least one in seven of nine innings.
They stranded ... nine runners, failing to produce anything against the Tigers quintet of Beau Brieske (two innings, three hits, two strikeouts), Joey Wentz (4 2/3 innings, four hits, one walk, six strikeouts), Jason Foley (one inning, one walk, one strikeout) and Tyler Holton (1/3 inning, one strikeout) and Alex Lange (one inning, one strikeout).
All seven of the Marlins’ hits — two from Luis Arraez and one apiece from Jorge Soler, Garrett Cooper, Jean Segura, Jacob Stallings and Dane Myers — were singles. Stallings and Bryan De La Cruz each also drew a walk.
“We just couldn’t string anything together,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said.
The Marlins are averaging 4.1 runs per game on the season, but that number has dipped to an MLB-worst 3.2 in their 13 games since the All-Star Break. Their run differential of minus-23 is the worst among any team still in the playoff hunt. The Milwaukee Brewers (minus-6) and Cincinnati Reds (minus-5) are the only other contenders with a negative run differential.
While the Marlins are expecting to get some internal reinforcements back soon — Avisail Garcia is slated to be activated on Sunday and Jazz Chisholm Jr. is beginning a rehab assignment Sunday — it’s hard to envision them not attempting to acquire an impact bat or two ahead of the trade deadline at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Two home runs foil Johnny Cueto’s start
Johnny Cueto had been nothing short of spectacular in his first two appearances after spending almost all of the first half on the injured list, giving up just one run over nine innings of work.
Two swings on Saturday put a damper on his third outing.
Cueto gave up a pair of home runs — the three-run shot from Baddoo in the second inning and a solo homer to Riley Greene in the sixth — to account for all four runs he surrendered against the Tigers. Both home runs were on the outer edge of the zone against the pair of left-handed hitters, both of whom hit the ball the opposite way for their home run.
Cueto pitched six innings overall and struck out five.
Winning the series will come down to the finale
The Marlins and Tigers wrap up their three-game series at 1:40 p.m. Sunday.
Left-handed pitcher Jesus Luzardo (8-5, 3.22 ERA) will start opposite Tigers left-handed pitcher Tarik Skubal (1-1, 3.71).
Miami is 20-13 this season in series finales.
After Miami wraps up its series with Detroit, the Marlins will play a four-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies starting Monday to cap the homestand.
