SPORTS

Tigers prepare for life without Cabrera, for now

Rod Beard
The Detroit News

Detroit — Soon after Miguel Cabrera called for a trainer, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus figured it wasn't going to be a minor injury.

In the fourth inning of Friday's win against the Blue Jays at Comerica Park, Cabrera was running from first and pulled up on the way to second, immediately calling for trainer Kevin Rand to come out and help.

"I was concerned — and when Miggy says he can't play, you know it's serious, because Miggy plays through anything," Ausmus said Friday night.

The initial diagnosis is a left calf strain, but Cabrera will undergo an MRI and further examination to determine the extent of the injury. The short-term outlook for Cabrera doesn't look good, though, and Ausmus isn't planning on having Cabrera in the lineup for the remainder of the weekend series against the Blue Jays. He might need to go on the disabled list.

"I'm not optimistic he's going to avoid the DL at this point but we'll know more (Saturday), for sure," Ausmus said. "My initial thought was that he strained his calf. Where he was grabbing on his leg made me think it was a calf (and not the Achilles)."

If Cabrera is out for an extended period, it will be an obvious blow to an offense that has struggled to produce runs at times this season. Cabrera, hitting .350, had singles in the first and fourth innings before leaving because of the injury.

The Tigers scored eight runs to support Anibal Sanchez's no-hit bid and the first day of a shuffled lineup — featuring Ian Kinsler at leadoff and Yoenis Cespedes hitting second — produced results. But with Cabrera's injury, there will need to be a little more juggling.

"I can't sit here and say that we'll be fine because we've been struggling to score runs every now and then with him in the lineup," outfielder J.D. Martinez said. "It's definitely a blow; hopefully it's nothing too serious and hopefully they say we'll give you a couple days off.

"The good news is the All-Star break is coming up. If it is anything, there's four days off."

In recent years, Cabrera has played through injuries, so seeing him call for help, in obvious pain, was a rarity.

Catcher Alex Avila, who returned from the disabled list Friday, has seen Cabrera work his way back from much more serious injuries, has seen how the Tigers have been able to make it through stints without Cabrera in the lineup — and hopes that this will be another instance.

"You don't see (Cabrera call for help) often. Hopefully he gets back as soon as he can. If not, we have to find a way to win games without him," Avila said. "We've done it in the past and there have been stretches over the years where he's had to sit to get him healthy. He sat for almost a week and a half straight and we went 8-2 without him. We have to pick it up by the bootstraps and find a way to do it."

Cabrera's absence would put more pressure on the rest of the offense but Ausmus said he hasn't thought about the implications yet. They could include returning Rajai Davis or Anthony Gose to the leadoff spot, pushing Kinsler back to second and using Cespedes at the No. 3 spot.

That's all for Ausmus to figure out before today's first pitch. But in the meantime, it's on the rest of the Tigers to try to continue their offensive consistency.

"You can't replace Miggy. The only thing we have to do now is step it up collectively as a team," Nick Castellanos said. "If we all step it up, maybe we can attempt to fill that gap. Miggy's presence in the offense makes everybody better.

"We're all going to have to step up as a team from 1 through 9. He's a lot of weight to pull."

Rod.Beard@detroitnews.com

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