Miggy exits with sore left hip flexor, day to day
Third baseman slows down while scoring, leaves game half-inning later
CHICAGO -- Both Jim Leyland and Miguel Cabrera were non-committal late Monday night about Cabrera's availability for Tuesday's game after he left the series opener against the White Sox early because of a sore left hip flexor. But if there is one thing working in Detroit's favor, it's Cabrera's history for finding a way to get into the lineup.
"One thing we know about Miguel, he'll be back in there as soon as it's possible," Leyland said. "But we're not going to rush anything. We're going to wait and see. I think he's pretty sore right now. … If he's got to miss a few games, he's going to miss a few games."
Cabrera left in the bottom of the fifth inning of the 7-3 victory after scoring gingerly from second base on Victor Martinez's RBI single. He had a conversation with head athletic trainer Kevin Rand in the dugout before taking his position in the field, where he looked uncomfortable for two batters -- Adam Dunn singled past him in the first at-bat of the inning to break up Max Scherzer's perfect game -- before leaving.
He will be evaluated on Tuesday and is listed as day to day.
"It felt weird," Cabrera said. "It felt real weird. That base hit that Victor had, I tried to pick it up a little bit from second to home. That's why I had to go out."
The issue has been nagging Cabrera for some time, and evidently has not had much time to heal. But the reigning American League MVP has a history of durability. He's played at least 150 games in each season he's been in the Majors since his rookie year in 2003.
Cabrera entered the night leading the Majors in batting average (.359) and RBIs (96).
"You just know it's a legitimate injury," Scherzer said of seeing Cabrera leave the game. "He'll play through anything. When he can't go, you know there's a problem. Hopefully, it's not a serious injury. Obviously, you hope he's just hurt and not injured."