CHICAGO — Miguel Yajure was finishing a pregame meal inside the visitors’ clubhouse at Wrigley Field on Thursday afternoon when he watched fellow Venezuelan Miguel Cabrera step to the plate for his fourth at-bat of a game against the Yankees.
Yajure grew up idolizing Cabrera, the Tigers slugger and longtime MLB star. Before becoming a full-time pitcher, Yajure donned Cabrera’s No. 24 with the hopes of one day making it to the big leagues as a hitter.
“He was my inspiration,” Yajure said. “I met him for the first time in spring training — so cool. I hope to pitch against him this year.”
Although the Pirates are certainly focused on their ongoing series against the Cubs, they’ve also been following Cabrera’s chase to become the 33rd player in Major League Baseball history with 3,000 or more hits, which he completed Saturday with a single to right field.
Born in Maracay, Venezuela, Cabrera became the first player from his home country to reach 3,000 hits and the seventh Latin American hitter to do it.
Seated next to one another, Yajure and Diego Castillo couldn’t help but smile when talking about Cabrera.
“He’s everything,” Castillo said. “The best hitter in the world.”
Castillo also met Cabrera for the first time this spring and was awestruck by the two-time AL MVP and 11-time All-Star, who played for the Marlins from 2003-07 and has been in Detroit since 2008.
Cabrera actually messaged Castillo via Instagram a month or so ago to congratulate him on a terrific spring training and to wish him luck for this season.
“It was great,” Castillo said. “He’s a cool guy, so nice. What can I say, man? He’s the king.”
As much admiration as those two have for Cabrera, It’s possible nobody in the Pirates clubhouse knows Cabrera, the 2012 American League Triple Crown winner, better than bench coach Don Kelly, who played with the right-handed slugger in Detroit from 2009-14.
When Kelly thinks about Cabrera’s greatness, two things immediately pop into Kelly’s head, both at-bats.
The first occurred Aug. 9, 2013 against the Yankees. Tigers down, 3-1, at Yankee Stadium, Mariano Rivera pitching and first base open with a man on second, though the Hall of Fame closer clearly didn’t care.
Cabrera fouled two pitches off his leg before hitting a majestic home run off Rivera to center. Coupled with a dinger later that year, Cabrera is the only hitter ever to take Rivera deep in consecutive at-bats.
“He’s unbelievable,” Kelly said of Cabrera. “Just to see the way he competed every day and the way he went about his work … what a hitter. Arguably the best right-handed hitter of this generation.”
The other at-bat was April. 7, 2010, to conclude a season-opening series in Kansas City. Tigers down one in the ninth facing former Pirate Joakim Soria at the start of what would become a career season for him.
Cabrera worked a 10-pitch at-bat, then hit a home run off the right-field foul pole to tie it.
“He adjusts so well during at-bats,” Kelly said. “Two outs, nobody on, he’s going up there with the approach to go deep. Second and third two outs, he could cut down, go to right-center and drive the runs in. He’d go more of a leg kick or toe-tap early on, then two strikes, just not even pick his front foot up.
“A pure hitter. Very smart. Understood what pitchers were trying to do.”
Pirates third-base coach Mike Rabelo has a different vantage point on Cabrera, who’s now just the seventh MLB player with both 3,000 hits and 500 home runs.
Rabelo, whom the Tigers drafted in the fourth round in 2001, was actually traded along with Andrew Miller, Cameron Maybin, Dallas Trahern, Eulogio De La Cruz and Burke Badenhop for Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis on Dec. 5, 2007.
“It’s pretty cool to be a small footnote in his career,” Rabelo said. “I always tell people that he was traded for me, not the other way around.
“He’s a wonderful human being, always smiling, gives anyone the time of day. He’s just a great guy. Good teammate. He’s going strong and still really, really fun to watch.”
De Jong debuts
A sneaky important part of Friday’s win came in the sixth and seventh innings, after Heath Hembree relieved Jose Quintana and Chase De Jong started with a clean slate.
Added to the roster for this series when Roansy Contreras was optioned to Class AAA Indianapolis, De Jong has an opportunity to earn a job as a long man in the bullpen.
What he did Friday should help.
DeJong buzzed through 3-4-5 in Chicago’s order in the sixth, then worked around a two-out walk and a single in the seventh. The slider DeJong talked about using more was indeed improved. His also did a fine job executing his fastball.
Most noticeable might’ve been the one he threw to Jonathan Villar for strike three to open his second frame.
"I feel like I made good pitches,” De Jong said. “I think the only misses, other than the four-pitch walk to [Ian] Happ, was the curveball that got hit for a single. Other than that, I missed where I wanted to.
“My fastball plays really well at the top of the zone, but to be able to stick one down late like that and get good results, that's going to be a huge pitch for me this year moving forward."
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: April 23, 2022, 2:34 p.m.
