The Tigers are going to gamble on Miguel Cabrera. They don't have a whole lot of choice.
Team officials decided Tuesday not to place their power-hitting first baseman on the disabled list, which would have put him out of action until after the All-Star break. The Tigers already have lost their regular cleanup hitter, right fielder Magglio Ordonez, with a sore right oblique muscle. He's on the disabled list and can't return until the day after the All-Star break at the earliest.
Cabrera has a sore hip flexor, suffered Monday night. Tuesday, he was walking gingerly as he went to the plate to pinch-hit with Detroit needing him to hit a home run to tie a game it trailed, and eventually lost, by two runs.
"He won't play Wednesday," manager Jim Leyland said. "You could see that (by the way he walked)."
The lineup Detroit presents, even without Ordonez, is pretty good. But missing both Ordonez and Cabrera means peripheral players have to assume major roles, which they can do short term but not over a couple of weeks.
So what Leyland is hoping for is that Cabrera can miss a handful of games, possibly into the weekend, but be ready to play with some limitations before Monday.
TWINS 6, TIGERS 4: 1B Marcus Thames hit a two-run home run for Detroit, his second in two games and 16th this season. LHP Nate Robertson gave up 11 hits for the second consecutive start and faced five batters in the fifth without getting an out. 3B Carlos Guillen scored on a wild pitch and DH Gary Sheffield had an RBI single in the eighth for the Tigers, whose six-game winning streak was snapped. Detroit turned five double plays to keep the score down.
