Miguel Cabrera home run leaves Tigers in awe

Shawn Windsor | USA TODAY Sports

NEW YORK — Don Kelly got three hits. Torii Hunter got three, too, including a three-run homer in the sixth inning Saturday afternoon at Yankees Stadium as the Tigers beat New York 9-3, the day after losing in extra innings.

Detroit (69-46) has won 15 of its last 17 and is a season-high 23 games over .500.

But really, the story here remains Miguel Cabrera.

On Friday, he lifted a ninth-inning fastball over centerfield against Mariano Rivera to tie that game, leaving the great reliever shaking his head. Saturday, meanwhile, he took an inside fastball headed for his left thigh, calmly pulled his hands in, inched his torso back and ripped a line-drive into the left-field seats. The solo shot gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead in the third inning. That was incidental.

This wasn't: "That was a ball," Hunter said, laughing, mostly because he's running out of ways to describe what he is watching.

No player in the game hits home runs on pitches out of the strike zone like Cabrera does. When Cabrera hit the inside fastball off Phil Hughes, Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez couldn't believe it.

"I've never seen that before in the big leagues," he said.

Manager Jim Leyland said sometimes he wonders if he and his coaching staff appreciate enough what they are witnessing.

"It's hard to believe, really, what we are seeing, to be honest with you. I mean, this if my 50th year (in the game and), I don't get too giddy about anything, (but) I'm not sure I've seen what's going last year and this year. I'm seeing things that are a little mind-boggling."

What's really stunning, he said, is when Cabrera takes that same pitch — a pitch, by the way, that jams most right-handed hitters and results in either a foul or a weak grounder — and pounds it to the opposite field for a home run. Ponder the physics of that for a second.

He's contorting his body mid-swing, bringing his hands closer to his abdomen and lifting the ball the other way with such force that it carries to the right-field seats.

"He just sees the world through a different set of eyes than a lot of people," said Leyland. "He sees the ball quicker, he sees the spin quicker, whatever, I don't know how to explain it. He's different."

The buzz he created with the two-out, two-strike shot of Rivera Friday night could be felt for much of Saturday. In the Tigers' clubhouse, the Yankees' clubhouse, the press box, the stands, the reverberation of the at-bat lingered.

Leyland called it one of the best moments in modern history and figures it for a spot on the classics reel at some point. Though his blast Saturday didn't have the dramatic context, it was no less astounding, prompting fans to stand and bow as he rounded the bases.

Yet it is not just the fans who marvel.

"I've had some players on opposing teams tell me, 'Unbelievable,' " said Leyland. "You are talking about several home runs over centerfield fences. That is not easy to do."

Nothing Cabrera does is easy, at least not for anyone else. As Leyland said, the third baseman combines the swing of a little guy with the power of a big guy.

It's the lead story at Yankees Stadium right now. Even New Yorkers are riveted.

Shawn Windsor writes for the Detroit Free Press, a Gannett affiliate.