Drew Sharp

Detroit Free Press Columnist

Borrowing from an old musical lyrical warning: You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. You don’t steal the mask of the Lone Ranger ... And you don’t buzz Miguel Cabrera’s head.

But Toronto Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna tempted fate in the bottom of the ninth inning Tuesday.

“It didn’t make much sense to me when I saw it,” said Detroit Tigers utilityman Andrew Romine, “because you don’t want to poke the bear and bring attention to yourself. Why get him aroused and even make him more focused about coming after you in that situation? Why get the best hitter of his generation mad?”

When Justin Upton saw Cabrera hit the dirt after an Osuna fastball whizzed just inches past Cabrera’s head, he knew it wouldn’t rattle Cabrera.

“I knew it would make him even more focused than he usually is,” Upton said. “And if you get him even more focused than usual, he’s going to deliver the big hit.”

Arguably, Cabrera delivered the biggest hit of the season. He ripped a double to rightfield that scored Ian Kinsler, the game-tying ru, in the bottom of the ninth. And what resembled a standard Tigers loss through eight innings – an offense falling meekly to an impressive opposing pitching performance – became a stirring 3-2, 10-inning victory that manager Brad Ausmus described as “definitely the most exciting win of the season.”

“I know that you don’t want to read too much into one game,” said outfielder Cameron Maybin, “but this is a huge game based on how we won it. We didn’t back down. We didn’t give up when we were struggling. You’ve got to keep grinding it out and that’s what we did. And it certainly didn’t hurt when they tried to make Miggy a little uncomfortable at the plate. Man, that’s not going to work.”

The Tigers now have their second five-game winning streak of the season. But they’ve also had four losing streaks of at least four games. That’s the definition of mediocrity. There’s still no evidence over the last five games suggesting these Tigers will prove to be anything more than a .500 team over the course of the season.

But throw them a bone for this particular win. It was the combination of solid starting pitching, a stingy bullpen and timely hitting. These are the type of games that good teams win more than they lose. But the Tigers have rarely exhibited such sound execution in all three of those areas in the same game.

The American League Central is bunching closer together with no more than four games separating the top four teams in the division. The Tigers are getting good performances from the two youngest members of their starting rotation – rookie Michael Fulmer and Matt Boyd, two of the principal pieces that then-general manager Dave Dombrowski secured in deadline trades just hours before owner Mike Ilitch fired him for failure to win a World Series.

And don’t forget that another deadline acquisition, lefthander Daniel Norris, is knocking the major-league door with some consistent outings at Triple-A Toledo.

“This was the type of game that you were looking for that spark that would get everybody a little more fired up,” Upton said.

Seeing Cabrera on the dirt, taking a couple moments, regathering his thoughts and rechanneling his laser-like focus provided that ignition. There’s no doubt that Osuna wasn’t head-hunting. It was aggressive pitching. You have to pitch inside to keep hitters from crowding the plate. And Toronto probably figured there was nothing wrong with keeping Cabrera a little off-balance.

After all, the man’s mortal. He’s not Superman…right?

Right?

Contact Drew Sharp: dsharp@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @drewsharp. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/drew-sharp/.

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