One and gone: The 13 pitchers Miguel Cabrera owned in one at-bat
By Kevin Henry
The Miguel Cabrera one-and-gone three-run home run club
Three pitchers have faced Cabrera once and given up a three-run homer.
On July 29, 2009, Texas Rangers reliever Eddie Guardado gave up a three-run bomb to Cabrera in the top of the seventh inning. Guardado had opened the frame by watching Placido Polanco reach on an error and then walking Carlos Guillen before Cabrera hammered a 1-0 pitch for his 20th homer of the season.
Less than one year earlier, on September 17, 2008, Cabrera had greeted another Rangers pitcher in Arlington with another three-run shot, this time taking Bill White deep as part of a five-run sixth inning that helped the Tigers win 17-4.
Finally, there is Matt Stites, who Cabrera saw during a Detroit visit to the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 23, 2014. Coming into the game in the top of the eighth, Stites struck out the first two Tigers he faced, then gave up four consecutive hits, with the last being a three-run bomb from Cabrera on a full count pitch.
Two from Texas and one from Arizona but, put together, they’re a trio of pitchers who gave up a trio of runs the only time Cabrera stepped into the batter’s box against them.