DETROIT (AP) — Miguel Cabrera’s left hip has been bothering him all season, leading to him lumbering when he runs.
He earned the right to take his time trotting around the bases twice Tuesday night.
Cabrera hit two homers for his first time with Detroit and finished 4-for-4, helping the Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians 9-2.
“I got the ball good,” he said. “We win the game, that’s more important.”
Marcus Thames’ solo homer was sandwiched between Cabrera’s shots, Ivan Rodriguez added another home run and Justin Verlander was dominant after a shaky start for the surging Tigers.
Detroit leads the majors with 21 wins since June 7.
Cabrera has been one of the players helping the Tigers turn their season around.
He is batting .340 with seven homers — half of his total — over the last 25 games. He had a slow start with his new team after hitting at a staggering pace for the Florida Marlins.
“He’s just doing what he’s always done,” Thames said.
The defending AL Central-champion Indians (37-52) have dropped nine straight, their longest losing streak since 2004.
“It’s dominoing on us a bit,” Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. “We’ve got to work that much harder to snap out of it.”
The latest setback was the first of the post-CC Sabathia era.
Sabathia, who officially was sent to Milwaukee on Monday for three prospects and a player to be named, rejected Cleveland’s $72 million, four-year extension offer during spring training and announced he wouldn’t negotiate until after the season.
Jeremy Sowers (0-5) took Sabathia’s turn in the rotation and was roughed up after getting through the first two innings unscathed. Sowers gave up seven runs — six earned — and 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings.
“They hit some pitches I thought were some good pitches,” Sowers said.
Cabrera capped the four-run third with a two-run homer — a pitch after Thames’ RBI double — on a swing that looked simply effortless.
Thames 17th homer, a two-run shot, put Detroit ahead 6-2 in the fifth inning. Curtis Granderson’s second RBI gave Detroit a five-run cushion in the sixth.
Cabrera’s second homer came on an 0-2 count on a low-and-outside pitch that he hit over the right-field fence in the seventh and Rodriguez also hit a solo homer in the inning to give Detroit a 9-2 lead.
It was much more support than Verlander needed.
After Casey Blake hit a double and Jhonny Peralta followed with a two-run homer in the first inning, Verlander didn’t give up another hit and struck out seven before exiting with a huge lead after seven innings.
“We took the lead early and were completely shut down after that,” Wedge said.

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