Gardy on Cabrera exit: 'He says he's fine'

DETROIT -- The sight of Miguel Cabrera being pulled from a lopsided game like Tuesday night’s 10-1 Tigers loss to the Indians at Comerica Park has been an increasingly common occurrence this season, even after the former Triple Crown winner transitioned to full-time designated hitter in June.

Still, the fact that Cabrera left for a pinch-hitter in the sixth inning of what was still a three-run contest at the time was bound to raise some concerns. Add in the diagnosis of tightness in his left biceps, the same arm where a ruptured biceps tendon ended his season last summer, and the Tigers had a new injury to keep an eye on.

Cabrera, however, doesn’t seem worried. Tuesday’s tightness was higher up his arm than the tendon rupture, and it hadn’t bothered him before. The move was more precautionary.

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“It’s just a sign that it’s weak,” said Cabrera, who plans to work on strengthening it in the offseason.

Until then, the tightness shouldn’t keep him out of the Detroit lineup.

“We’ll see where he’s at [Wednesday],” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. “He says he’s fine.”

Until now, the greater concern with Cabrera has been the chronic changes in his right knee, which forced him to give up first base for this year and tinker with his swing to shift his weight onto his stronger left knee. He has found success with it over the past month, entering Tuesday with a .300 average (27-for-90) and an .853 OPS since July 29.

Cabrera has produced that while playing just about every day, eschewing many of the days off he had been receiving for day games after night games. It’s not necessarily a sign of health; the knee issue hasn’t gone away, Cabrera said earlier this month. It is a sign of how much Cabrera is trying to help a struggling offense that lost Nicholas Castellanos at the Trade Deadline and Christin Stewart and Niko Goodrum to the injured list.

Cabrera had missed one game this month before being rested for Sunday’s series finale at Minnesota, giving him two days to rest up for the series opener against Cleveland. Still, his swing Tuesday looked a tad awkward as he chased pitches from Indians starter Adam Plutko, striking out on a slider off the plate in the first inning and a fastball in the third.

“He just was not feeling it,” Gardenhire said. “He was worried about it, didn’t want to do something silly, so he took himself out of the game, which is fine.”

While Willi Castro stepped into the box to lead off the sixth inning, John Hicks stepped on deck to hit for Cabrera.

Though Cabrera’s numbers have waned with his health, he remains the most productive hitter in an increasingly young Tigers lineup. He and leadoff hitter Victor Reyes were the only members of Detroit’s starting nine on Tuesday with a full season in the Major Leagues, and Reyes only counted because he spent last year in Detroit as a Rule 5 Draft pick. When Cabrera was rested last Sunday, Travis Demeritte -- who made his Major League debut with the Tigers a little less than four weeks ago, after his trade from Atlanta -- batted third in Cabrera’s usual spot, with Ronny Rodríguez batting cleanup.

Rodriguez singled home Dawel Lugo after his second-inning double for the Tigers’ lone run. It wasn’t enough to avoid defeat for Spencer Turnbull (3-13), who will register another winless month since his last victory, May 31 in Atlanta, but the Tigers kept it close until a six-run seventh inning when the Indians hit two tape-measure home runs off Nick Ramirez, and then pushed across another run against David McKay.

The Tigers had another injury concern arise when Harold Castro fouled a ball off his right calf in the ninth inning. He stayed in the game, but was noticeably hobbling on his way back to the dugout after grounding out.

“It’s nothing to worry about,” Castro said. “I’m good. I can play tomorrow.”

Still, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Gardenhire has Castro rest for a day. The converted infielder has become Detroit’s everyday center fielder over the last couple weeks since JaCoby Jones’ season-ending fractured wrist.

“We’ll probably end up giving him a day,” Gardenhire said. “[Reyes] will go out in center and we’ll ad-lib [in left].”

The Tigers have lost each of Turnbull’s last 12 starts, the longest such streak for a Detroit starter since the 2002 and ’03 Tigers lost 12 consecutive starts from Adam Bernero. Detroit has been held to two runs or fewer in nine of the last 12 Turnbull starts.