Cleveland – Well, that had to feel pretty good.
Tigers catcher Eric Haase spent nine years grinding in Cleveland's minor league system, getting the briefest of opportunities — 19 games over two seasons — with the big club.
He gave them a glimpse of what they missed out on Wednesday as the Tigers completed an extremely rare doubleheader sweep at Progressive Field with a 7-1 win in the nightcap.
How rare? It was their first doubleheader sweep of Cleveland since Aug. 7, 1986, and their first sweep in Cleveland since Sept. 14, 1977.
Detroit beat Cleveland 9-4 in the opener and finished June with a winning record in the month at 14-13.
With two outs in the fourth inning, Haase jumped a 3-0 fastball from Cleveland starter Logan Allen. He destroyed it. The ball left his bat with an exit velocity of 113.2 mph and traveled 442 feet deep into the bleachers in left field.
It was Haase’s ninth homer of the year, his first since June 8 (56 plate appearances) and his first hit against his former team. And not for nothing, it was the fifth hardest ball a Tigers hitter has put in play this season.
The Haase homer put the Tigers up 3-1.
Miguel Cabrera had himself a series, as well. Shoot, he had a month. He had two hits and an RBI in the first game. In the nightcap he had two more, including career home run number 494, a solo shot in the fifth.
He sits alone at No. 28 on the all-time home run chart now, passing Lou Gehrig and Fred McGriff.
His singled in the second inning, went to second after Haase walked, hustled to third on a wild pitch, then tagged and scored on a bullet (105 mph exit velocity) lineout by shortstop Zack Short.
Cabrera has raised his average from .199 to .240 since June 13. He’s hit .400 (18 for 45) in that span.
In the month of June, he hit .329 with five doubles, three home runs and 14 RBIs.
Derek Hill, serving as the 27th man, punched a two-run single up the middle in the sixth to provide some cushion.
You know what else had to feel good? Getting your first win as a starting pitcher since April 26, 2017. That's what 32-year-old Wily Peralta did Wednesday, allowing just an unearned run and three hits in five solid innings.
Cleveland hit some balls ridiculously hard off him. In the second inning alone, they posted exit velocities of 114, 107 and 110 mph. The average exit velocity for the game was 97 mph.
But only one of those hard-hit balls did damage — an RBI triple by Bradley Zimmer in the second inning.
Peralta struck out five without issuing a walk.
The game, after a two-hour-and-29-minute rain delay before the first game, started at 10:16 p.m. It was second-latest start time in the last 20 years. The latest was the famous Carlos Guillen walk-off game against the Yankees in 2007 that started at 11:06 p.m. and ended at 3:30 a.m.
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