DETROIT (AP) — Baseball history is on hold in the Motor City.
Miguel Cabrera will have to wait at least one more day to get his 3,000th career hit because Friday night’s game between the Detroit Tigers and the Colorado Rockies was canceled due to rain.
The suspension of the meeting was decreed about an hour before its start at Comerica Park. Cabrera has not been able to reach the mark and has accumulated 2,999 hits, a figure he reached after getting three in Wednesday’s match.
The Venezuelan recognized that this milestone means a lot to him and said that the emotion of just thinking about it has won him this week.
“I was dreaming of this moment,” he said. “When I was in the dugout I was like, ‘Wow.'”
The Rockies and Tigers will have to play a doubleheader on Saturday to make up for the canceled game. The first duel will start at 1:10 in the afternoon and the second at 6:40.
Detroit plans to send right starter Tarik Skubal (0-1, 3.72) and Colorado Antonio Senzatela (0-1, 2.16) in the opener.
The Tigers toured the debut of right-hander Beau Brieske in the Major Leagues on Saturday afternoon for Game 2, in which the Rockies’ starter will be Austin Gomber (0-1, 7:00).
Due to light rain, the first game of the series between the two teams was canceled and the rains would continue for the rest of the night. By Saturday, it would be sunny and the highest temperature would reach 27.2 degrees (81 F), according to forecasts.
On Thursday, Cabrera was intentionally walked in the eighth inning, prompting a loud boo at Comerika Park, where the Tigers beat the New York Yankees 3-0.
Cabrera, 39, is one hit away from becoming the 33rd Major League player to reach 3,000 hits and the first Venezuelan to accomplish the feat.
He is also one hit away from becoming the seventh player with 500 home runs and 3,000 hits. The other great players of all time in this select club are Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Eddie Murray, the Cuban Rafael Palmeiro, the Dominican Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez.
Among those all-time greats, Cabrera will join Aaron and Mays as the trio with a .300 batting average or better.
“That’s going to be even more special company,” Hall of Famer and former Tigers shortstop Alan Tramell said Friday in the Detroit dugout. “He’s going to go down as one of the greatest hitters in history.”
“He knows that the end is coming, but he still has steam. When all is said and done this year, I think he is going to have a formidable season.”
Cabrera won the Triple Crown in 2012, leading the league in home runs, RBIs and batting average for the first time since Carl Yastrzemski did it in 1967.
Twice named AL MVP and 11-time All-Star with four batting titles, posting a .348 ERA when voted league MVP in 2013 for the second year in a row .
