Miguel Cabrera might have an injured right ankle, but as Indians manager Terry Francona succinctly noted Monday night, "His bat's not broken."
After exiting early from Saturday's game against the White Sox and taking Sunday off to rest his aggravated ankle, Cabrera on Monday had Detroit fans remembering the days of an almost daily Miggy homer. The first baseman and typically reliable slugger went 4-for-5, smashing two home runs and scoring four times to lift the Tigers to a 12-1 trouncing of the Cleveland Indians.
Cabrera's homers -- as well as round-trippers hit by V-Mart, J.D. Martinez and Tyler Collins -- helped the Tigers keep pace with Kansas City in the AL Central and backed up their chances for an AL wild-card spot.
Miggy's homer in the first inning off Cleveland starter Corey Kluber was his first since Aug. 2 and only his fourth since June 30. He finished August with only a bases-empty homer under his belt, making his running total for September already more than he accomplished the whole previous month.
Tuesday night, the Tigers took the second game of the series with the Indians 4-2, with Cabrera getting three more hits. His single in the ninth inning helped set the table for J.D. Martinez's game-winning, three-run homer.
Cabrera's offensive production has experienced an unusual dip this season. The 2012 Triple Crown winner, who's struggled with lingering injuries all season, is batting .305 and has 19 homers. In 2013, Cabrera led the league with a .348 average and had 44 home runs, the second-best MLB total for that year.
Cabrera has kept characteristically quiet about the state of his health, making it even more difficult to uncover the true cause of his hitting slump. After a slow start to the season, it was assumed that he was still feeling the effects of a core muscle surgery in the offseason.
Now, most of the talk surrounds his sore right ankle, which he aggravates often with the running, sliding and constant standing inherent in professional baseball.
As a right-handed batter, Cabrera's painful right ankle affects not only his capabilities on his feet, but also his swing. Cabrera has seemingly lost some of his signature power, most likely because of his tendency to drop his weight back and drive into the ball using his right leg as an accelerator.
Despite suggestions that Cabrera take extended time off to rest his ankle, manager Brad Ausmus has insisted that, at least for now, Cabrera can be used in a literal "day-to-day" capacity. The Tigers are doing what they can to keep Cabrera off his feet and seem comfortable to make the call daily as to his ability to play.
Still, Monday's performance was a promising sign for the beloved slugger. The last time Cabrera had two homers in one game (June 28, 2013), he went on to hit 19 home runs over the next two months, knocking out a homer in almost 40 percent of the games he played.
Overall, Cabrera seems to have the right idea. When you put yourself in a position to jog the bases -- rather than run them -- it's less likely you'll aggravate your ankle in the process.
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