Inside The Tigers' Dugout For Miggy's Monday Night Moonshot
By: Will Burchfield
@Burchie_Kid
Miguel Cabrera has a long history of obliterating baseballs. But he outdid himself on Monday night at Comerica Park.
In his first at-bat of the game, Cabrera sent a helpless Nathan Karns fastball sometime into next week. The ball exploded off Cabrera's bat, sailed over the brick wall beyond the left center field fence, bounced once on the outfield promenade and then hopped over the iron fence that constitutes the boundary of Comerica Park.
The ball then rolled onto East Adams Ave., before being snatched up by a lucky passerby who happened to be walking down the street at the time. Imagine that: a home run souvenir for a fan who wasn't even inside the stadium.
Tony Paul of the Detroit News tracked down the man who made the play.
According to ESPN Stats and Info, Cabrera's moonshot travelled 461 feet. And even that gargantuan distance feels like an understatement.
As far as official measurements go, J.D. Martinez owns the record for the longest homerun in Comerica Park with the 467-foot bomb he hit in 2015. That bested the previous record of 466 feet, which had been set three years prior by, yep, Miguel Cabrera.
But if we're going by the eye test, Cabrera's latest dinger is the winner.
"That was probably the farthest I've seen here," said Brad Ausmus, who also witnessed Martinez' homer. "I can't think of one that was farther. I've seen farther in BP but never in a game."
Asked to explain his reaction to Cabrera's colossal long-ball, Ausmus, at a loss for words, laughed and said, "I knew it was gone. I don't know if I said anything, but I knew it was gone as soon as he hit it."
Mike Pelfrey, who started the game for the Tigers, took in the display from the dugout with his teammates. Pelfrey and Co. were awed, but they weren't shocked.
"I think we all saw it and "Wow" was the response from everybody. It was crushed and I think we've come to expect that from him. He's a pretty strong guy and he got a hold of it," Pelfrey said.
To say Cabrera is "pretty strong," of course, is to say Michael Fulmer has been decent in the month of June.
Justin Upton, Monday night's hero with two home runs including the walk-off shot in the 12th, hit a bomb of his own in the 7th when he sent a ball into the center-field ivy. He laughed in wonder at the notion that his long-ball wasn't even the longest of the night.
"Yeah, well that other guy's pretty dang good too, he's special, man," Upton said of Cabrera. "It's pretty fun to watch and be a part of."
Attempting to explain the buzz in the dugout following Cabrera's Adams Ave. blast, Upton paused, as Ausmus had, and then chuckled at the memory.
"A lot of pale faces. Guys were just in awe. That ball came off the bat and you didn't know when it was going to land. He's hit a few like that. It's pretty impressive," Upton said.
