The baseball community was expecting to witness history when the Detroit Tigers welcomed the New York Yankees to Comerica Park on Thursday. Venezuelan star Miguel Cabrera headed into the game aiming to record the 3,000th hit in his MLB career, an opportunity that the Yankees eventually deprived him of.
Miggy was heading to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning aiming not only to achieve the milestone but also to increase the Tigers' lead. However, Yankees manager Aaron Boone intentionally walked him, preventing Cabrera from writing history and sparking rage from the home crowd in the process.
Cabrera had previously missed three opportunities. When he was looking for a fourth chance, the Tigers had runners in second and third base as the Yankees were trailing by one with Lucas Luetge on the mound. Boone later explained the reason behind his unpopular decision.
This is why Yankees intentionally walked Miguel Cabrera ahead of potential 3,000th hit
Even though Miggy himself showed no hard feelings towards the Yankees, claiming that he failed to do something with his previous three chances, the MLB world - especially Tigers fans - took it differently.
Aaron Boone, however, explained it had nothing to do with Cabrera potentially registering a 3,000th hit. The Yankees manager said he decided to walk Cabrera because he simply preferred Austin Meadows to face Luetge.
“I just liked the matchup a little bit better in that situation, and it came down to a baseball call for me,” Boone said, per The Athletic's Lindsey Adler. “Tough decision, and I thought Lucas executed a pitch and got the soft contact, but you know, (Meadows) dumped it in there. So, tough call.”
Call it karma or whatever you want, but Boone's plan only made things worse for the Yankees. Meadows' hit resulted in two runs that extended the Tigers' lead to three and eventually sealed a shutout win. Now it only looks like a matter of time before Cabrera finally reaches the 3,000 hit mark, something he'll try to do when the Tigers play the first of three consecutive home games against the Colorado Rockies on Friday.
