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Miggy expects to play Friday after early exit

Slugger was removed in fifth Thursday because of discomfort in abdomen, groin

DETROIT -- Miguel Cabrera left Thursday's 7-6 win over the Athletics after the fifth inning when he aggravated his left abdominal wall strain, which has bothered him for more than a month.

However, Cabrera was feeling much better after Detroit's walk-off win. He celebrated with his teammates while indicating that he will be back in Friday's lineup against the Indians.

"I'm OK," Cabrera said. "I'll play tomorrow. Don't worry."

In his third at-bat of the game, Cabrera drilled a ball to the right-center gap and tried to stretch the hit into a double. He was thrown out at second and appeared to grab his left knee after sliding into the base.

"You don't feel very comfortable when you see any of your players that might be hurt or in pain," manager Jim Leyland said. "But at least I knew what this was right off the bat. We have a pretty good idea that's an aggravation of it."

Leyland and head athletic trainer Kevin Rand met Cabrera at second base after he was slow to get up. Cabrera was able to walk back to the dugout, and later into the clubhouse, without assistance, but was clearly limping.

Leyland said the pain ran from his abdomen down to his groin due to the muscles, which made it appear as a leg injury.

"Every time something like that happens, we all get scared," catcher Brayan Pena said. "But then we see him smiling and stuff like that after the game, then everyone starts breathing again."

Cabrera, in pursuit of a second straight Triple Crown, entered the day leading the American League in batting average (.357) and RBIs (130, 10 more than Baltimore's Chris Davis ) and was second in home runs (43, four behind Davis).

Bobby Nightengale is an associate reporter for MLB.com.
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