Cabrera plans to play despite sore knee

DETROIT -- Even if Miguel Cabrera’s right knee felt perfectly fine, the veteran Tiger probably would’ve sat out Sunday afternoon’s 8-2 loss to the Orioles, as he typically does for day games after night games. After his exit from Saturday night’s game at Comerica Park in the seventh inning with right knee soreness, the question is how many more games he might miss.

It’s the latest flare-up of the knee issue that has bothered him off and on all season, diagnosed earlier this summer as chronic changes to his knee as the result of wear and tear over the years. It has forced Cabrera to become a full-time designated hitter and to change the classic batting stance that won him four batting titles and a Triple Crown in favor of a swing that takes weight off his right leg and puts it on his left.

Cabrera’s ability to adapt to a new swing at age 36 -- he’s batting .321 with an .880 OPS since July 29 -- has been a quiet surprise in a dismal Detroit season. But the knee soreness still returns every now and then.

“He told the trainers that his knee was sore,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said after Saturday’s 8-4 Tigers win over the Orioles. “It was sore [Friday] and he tried to play through it, but it’s still sore. We’ll just go day to day and see how he’s doing.”

There are no plans to shut Cabrera down for the final two weeks. Cabrera wants to keep playing, and his knee issue isn’t one that will go away with rest. For now, it’s a matter of pain management.

Whether that changes this offseason will be a key question for the Tigers going forward. Cabrera has said several times this summer that he plans to use the offseason to strengthen his knee and the muscles around it. His ultimate goal is to be able to play first base again on occasion; he likes being involved in the entire game instead of sitting in the dugout while his team is out on defense.

Garcia gets his shot at setup

The grooming process that led to Joe Jimenez becoming Tigers closer this summer began with a late-season audition two years ago, and a shift into the setup role behind Shane Greene last year. Jimenez learned from Greene while adjusting to the pressure of facing Major League hitters in big situations.

With Jimenez now in the closer’s role and rosters expanded, Bryan Garcia is beginning his process.

“I’m really impressed,” Gardenhire said. “He’s throwing the living crap out of the ball. He’s got a great arm. We talked about [how] this kid has a chance to be [part of] the future next year, and we’re going to take looks at him.”

Garcia has been groomed for late-inning work for most of his career. Detroit drafted him in the sixth round of the 2016 MLB Draft out of the University of Miami, where his work as closer earned him the 2016 Stopper of the Year award from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

“As a competitor, you want to throw in situations like that,” Garcia said.

The Tigers have put restrictions on Garcia for his September callup as he wraps up his first season since Tommy John surgery. He cannot pitch on back-to-back days, so Gardenhire has to pick and choose his spots for him.

Garcia picked up his first eighth-inning hold in his second Major League appearance, allowing a run while pitching with a three-run lead on Sept. 5 at Kansas City. After giving up three runs in two-thirds of an inning against the Yankees in Thursday’s doubleheader, Gardenhire brought him back to protect a 2-0 lead on Saturday night.

Garcia struck out his first two batters, freezing DJ Stewart with a 94 mph fastball before fanning Rio Ruiz on a changeup, but he gave up back-to-back singles after 0-2 counts. He faced Trey Mancini with first base open and two outs, but opted to challenge him instead of walking him and facing switch-hitter Anthony Santander.

“He just got one up,” Gardenhire said of the elevated slider that Mancini hit out for a three-run homer, “but we really like that arm. He’s got a great changeup, great slider, good fastball.”

Said Garcia: “I guess I was a pitch away, but that’s the way it rolls sometimes. You have to learn from it and keep moving forward. Just learn from it.”

Reyes stays patient

While the Tigers reveled in Victor Reyes’ game-tying home run with two outs in the ninth inning on Saturday night, Reyes was sprinting around the bases. He didn’t want to take any chances.

“I saw it was pretty high, but you know the measures of the ballpark,” Reyes said through translator Carlos Guillen. “I know from a couple times you go deep and it’s not deep enough. I wasn’t 100 percent sure that it was a homer.”

Reyes knows that feeling well. Though his powerful swings in batting practice have been noticed, Reyes had never homered at Comerica Park. His previous two Major League home runs were on the road, at Yankee Stadium last September and at Minute Maid Park in Houston last month.

Reyes said he had an aggressive approach when he had a 3-1 count ahead of the home run.

“We’ve seen him do that in [batting practice] a lot, drop the bat head on the ball like that,” Gardenhire said. “That was really cool.”