Blue Jays takeaways: Miguel Cabrera launches homer No. 500, an electric moment no matter which team you cheer for

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/08/2021 (1523 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The view from Deep Left Field on the Blue Jays’ 5-3 loss to the Tigers in 11 innings at the Rogers Centre on Sunday:

I’ll admit it, I got chills.

As much as home run chases have been tainted by the steroid-era sluggers who came to the plate looking like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man — after all, Hank Aaron’s and Babe Ruth’s career home run totals just roll off the tongue, but how many people know how many Barry Bonds hit? — I was still excited that Miguel Cabrera and his 499 home runs were coming to town with the Detroit Tigers this weekend.

One of the greatest hitters of all time, a no-doubt first-ballot Hall of Famer, two-time MVP, the only Triple Crown winner in the last half-century. But the 38-year-old isn’t what he once was, having only hit 54 homers over the past five seasons, and it showed at the Rogers Centre.

When Miggy came to the plate in the top of the sixth inning on Sunday, with his Tigers trailing Steven Matz and the Jays 1-0, Cabrera was hitless for the weekend. An 0-for-5 Friday night was followed by an 0-for-3 Saturday, though he’d worked in a walk.

His Sunday started with a first-inning pop foul on which Marcus Semien made a terrific running grab. A hard-hit grounder to short followed in his second trip, which meant that Cabrera had come up empty in each of 11 plate appearances since crossing the border.

But you know what they say: 12th time’s the charm.

With the count 1-and-1 in that sixth-inning at-bat, Matz threw a changeup away just off the plate, and as he so often has over his illustrious career Cabrera went with it, hitting a rising line drive the other way. Far from a no-doubter, it carried and carried and finally cleared the wall in right-centre, landing 400 feet away in the service level concourse.

The Rogers Centre crowd of 14,685, with a healthy dose of Tigers fans mixed in, exploded. Cabrera not only got a standing ovation as he rounded the bases, but a curtain call as well. He leapt out of the far end of the dugout, raised both hands to the heavens and took a deep bow.

It was an absolutely electric moment.

Cabrera is the 28th player in major-league history with 500 or more home runs, and the first to do it since David Ortiz belted his milestone shot off Matt Moore at Tropicana Field on Sept. 12, 2015.

More than just a slugger, Cabrera is also a four-time batting champ and will likely wind up as only the third player in history to hit .300 with over 500 doubles (he has 591) and 3,000 hits (he has 2,955) to go with his 500 homers. It won’t happen, but he could go hitless in his next 300 at-bats and still have a .301 career average. The other two are Aaron and Willie Mays.

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It’s the first time we have been witness to 500-homer history here in Toronto, and it was a thrill.

• Unpleasant memories: The Jays have lost so many winnable games this season that it’s all but impossible to keep track, but for the first time in seven years they lost a game that they actually had in their back pocket. Literally snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Semien, who has not only been one of their best players but one of the best in all of baseball this season, picked up Harold Castro’s routine grounder with two out in the ninth inning and the Jays up 2-1. He had plenty of time, didn’t rush and still handcuffed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with a throw in the dirt that bounced past the first baseman, allowing the tying run to score. Make a halfway decent throw, as Semien has done thousands of times, and the game is over. Instead, it continued for the Tigers to score a run in the 10th and two more in the 11th for the win.

Flashback to May 29, 2014, when the Jays led Kansas City 6-5 with two out in the top of the ninth at the Rogers Centre. José Reyes fielded an easy grounder by the slow-footed Salvador Pérez and threw wildly to first, allowing the tying run to score. The Royals cashed a pair in the 10th to win it.

Had Reyes made the routine play, that would have sealed the Jays’ 10th straight win. Had Semien made his, it would have given the Jays’ glimmering playoff hopes a little more life as they head into a four-game home series with the first-place White Sox starting Monday night.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness