Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera made his 2,000th career hit one to remember, belting a two-run homer in the eighth inning of Detroit’s 10-4 rout of Baltimore.
Cabrera had four of the Tigers’ 17 hits in the contest. He became just the ninth player in Major League Baseball history to reach 2,000 hits before the age of 31 when he sent a Ryan Webb pitch over the wall in left-center field.
The two-time American League Most Valuable Player reached the milestone a fortnight before his 31st birthday on April 18.
The others in that select group are Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Mel Ott, Hank Aaron, Joe Medwick, Jimmie Fox, Robin Yount and Alex Rodriguez.
It was the first home run of 2014 for Cabrera, who on the eve of the season inked an eight-year contract extension that will keep him in Detroit through 2023 worth a reported record-setting $292 million (212 million euros).
Detroit’s first-year manager Brad Ausmus clearly thinks it’s money well spent.
“Eventually, you run out of adjectives to describe how great of a hitter he is, not just in the context of today’s game but in the context of the history of baseball,” Ausmus said. “I’ve only been here for a short period of time. I’m already running out of words to describe him.”