Tigers' Miguel Cabrera expected to miss six weeks with calf strain

Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera is expected to miss six weeks with a Grade 3 calf strain.

Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera is expected to miss six weeks with a Grade 3 left calf strain, manager Brad Ausmus told reporters on Saturday. 

The Tigers placed Cabrera on the DL on Saturday, the morning after he left Friday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays with the strain. 

This is the first DL stint of Cabrera's 13-year career. Besides his rookie year, the 32-year-old has never played fewer than 148 games in a season and sat out just three games in 2014.

Cabrera sustained the injury running the bases on a hit-and-run attempt. He had a heavy limp while exiting the game and Ausmus said afterwards that he was not optimistic that the first baseman would avoid the DL. 

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Ausmus told reporters Saturday that Cabrera's MRI showed “fibers tearing, but not to the point where he’ll need surgery or anything like that.”

“Sometimes you find out more about a team when a player like Miggy goes down,” Ausmus said. “We’ll see what type of fight we have.”

Cabrera currently leads the American League with a .350 batting average and a .456 on-base percentage. He also has 15 home runs and 54 RBIs though 77 games.

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To fill Cabrera's spot on the roster, Detroit purchased the contract of infielder Jefry Marte from Triple A Toledo.

- Molly Geary