BALTIMORE -- Miguel Cabrera scored his 499th career homer in the fifth inning of Wednesday's 5-2 win by the Detroit Tigers over the Baltimore Orioles.Cabrera scored off Matt Harvey, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Cabrera gave a small pump to his right fist after the ball cleared the wall in left field.He had also two singles in the game and a sacrifice fly in sixth. In his final at-bat, he grounded out in the ninth.This season, the Detroit slugger has 12 homers. He hadn't gone deep since Aug. 3. Cabrera could be sat out of this game with No. 500 is on the horizon.Manager AJ Hinch stated, "He's playing," before he was asked. "I have spoken to him and we are not going to test his baseball fate. We want him to hit the ball when it's supposed to. It could be Thursday, or it might not.It would have been understandable for Cabrera to sit out Thursday's game which begins at 4:05 p.m. ET in what is expected to become a hot day in Baltimore. Six straight Tigers games are scheduled for the team's return.Jonathan Schoop, a teammate, said that everyone was hopeful that he could do it in Detroit. However, we'll wait to see what happens, after being told by Hinch.Schoop responded, "So we hope that he'll do [Thursday] then."Cabrera, 38 years old, wants to be the 28th major league player and first Venezuelan player to hit 500 homers. Recent seasons have seen a significant drop in his production. Since 2017, he has not hit more than 12 homers.Cabrera is still a big star in Detroit, as he chases this milestone. He has 2,950 hits.This report was contributed by The Associated Press.
