JUPITER, Fla. – Jim Leyland is tired of talking about Miguel Cabrera's off-field troubles. Maybe Cabrera is, too, and he wasted no time getting back to baseball.
Cabrera smacked the first pitch he saw Friday over leaping Cardinals right fielder Allen Craig for an RBI double. In his next at-bat, Cabrera belted an opposite field home run, his first this spring.
The slugging first baseman went 2 for 3 on Friday, leading Detroit to a 7-4 victory over St. Louis in his first game since fresh details came out this week regarding his February arrest on suspicion of drunken driving.
"You've got to be step-by-step, you've got to be day-by-day," said Cabrera, a five-time All Star and runner up for last year's American League MVP.
Detroit starter Phil Coke shut out the Cardinals for four innings. Lance Lynn gave up two runs on three hits in two innings of work for St. Louis, whose pitchers surrendered 14 walks.
Lynn, who is looking to fill the spot of injured ace Adam Wainwright, started in Chris Carpenter's spot in the rotation.
Working his way back from a hamstring strain suffered in his first outing of the spring, Carpenter threw more than 60 pitches in four innings of a live bullpen session before Friday's game. The 2005 Cy Young award winner said he is ready to make second spring start, scheduled for Wednesday in Lakeland against Detroit.
"I'm sick of talking about this," Leyland, the Tigers' manager, said of Cabrera's situatioin. "The situation is being dealt with. End of the conversation."
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