The New York Yankees closed their three-game set against the Detroit Tigers in a Thursday day game. Miguel Cabrera was sitting on 2,999 hits, which is obviously a massive milestone.
In dramatic fashion, he stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the eighth with runners in scoring position. Yankees manager Aaron Boone took the air out of Comerica Park by walking the future Hall of Famer. The Tigers radio team of Dan Dickerson and Jim Price didn’t like the move.
As called on Tigers radio: pic.twitter.com/O6zrusWfQ7
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) April 21, 2022
Here’s the quote from Dickerson:
“They are not! No! They are! Oh, man. Ron Gardenhire said Tom Kelly told him early in his career ‘Stay away from the intentional walk, especially of the big guys.’ Because it usually backfires, but also, Jim, because the people are coming to see that guy hit. Which I thought was interesting.”
As a baseball fan, I wanted to see Cabrera have another crack at 3,000 hits. However, as a rational Yankee fan, the move to walk him and create a force out at all three bases made perfect sense. Not to mention, walking Miggy set up a lefty-lefty matchup for Lucas Luetge on Austin Meadows.
The move backfired, but it’s impossible to fault Boone for issuing the intentional walk. Tigers fans can cry about it, but Cabrera had three chances to notch 3,000 hits already. Even he understood Boone’s decision.
“I got three chances,” Miguel Cabrera said. “It’s baseball.”
— Jason Beck (@beckjason) April 21, 2022
For what it’s worth, Cabrera should be able to achieve this historic milestone at home. Detroit is hosting the Colorado Rockies this weekend. It’s tough luck for the fans who were in the stadium on Thursday, but it’s not as if Boone robbed Cabrera of his opportunity. This wasn’t a Barry Bonds situation where the Yankees were walking Bonds with the bases loaded or multiple times in the game.
Cabrera will get that 3,000th hit in the next few days. Get over it.
