Miguel Cabrera and Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Roberto Hernandez had a bit of fun with each other during the Detroit Tigers’ 5-2 win on Thursday.
Hernandez (FKA Fausto Carmona) allowed Cabrera to go 2-for-3 when they faced each other, but it was the one time he got Miggy out that led to the fun.
To set the scene, you have to understand the pitch sequence for Cabrera’s first at-bat.
Cabrera singled in his first at-bat against Hernandez after going to the opposite field on a two-strike changeup away. Hernandez started off Cabrera with two hard sinkers inside and then went to junk after that, which proved to be a bad decision. In the next at-bat, Hernandez wisely went right back to the sinker and struck out Cabrera.
Hernandez threw Miggy four straight 90+ mph inside sinkers. Then, on the 2-2 pitch, he fooled Cabrera by throwing an 84 mph changeup. Miggy could be seen smiling as he walked away from the dish, probably because it’s not often that he gets fooled. Hernandez was also smiling knowing that he got over on Miggy in that at-bat:
It was hard to read Miggy’s lips, but it looked like he said something about “fastball” as he walked away.
When Cabrera came up the next inning, Hernandez started him off with a sinker that Miggy took low for a ball. He then stepped out of the box and held up a finger at Hernandez:
Cabrera could be seen saying to Hernandez, “Give me one.”
I’m not sure if that meant he wanted Hernandez to throw him one pitch he could hit, another fastball (hence the number 1) or one more of those changeups that he struck out on in the previous at-bat. Hernandez responded by throwing him a soft slider or change (it was hard to tell what it was since it didn’t move much) on the next pitch, and Cabrera flared it into right for a two-out RBI single to make it 3-0 Detroit. Cabrera had a big grin on his face after the hit, while Hernandez was not amused.
Miggy finished the game 3-for-4 with a run, RBI, and his second stolen base of the season. He’s now batting .373 on the year. What’s the lesson here? You may fool Miggy once, but you don’t fool him twice.
GIF via GameReax
