Watch Miguel Cabrera hit home runs 490 and 491

The chase to 500 hasn’t exactly been proceeded at a rip roaring pace, but Miguel Cabrera continues to gain ground on one of the more storied marks in the game. The Detroit Tigers are in Kansas City tonight, and Kauffman Stadium has been the sight of a lot of great moments from the big man. You may remember him locking up the Triple Crown in 2012 to a huge ovation from appreciative Kansas City fans.

In the second inning of Friday night’s contest with the Royals, Cabrera moved closer to another outstanding feat. In a 2-0 count against Mike Minor, Cabrera turned on a 2-0 fastball and smoked it out to left center field to give the Tigers a slim early lead.

Home run number 490 of his career moves him within three of Lou Gehrig and Fred McGriff, tied for the 28th most home runs in major league history. Cabrera has scuffled this season after finishing the 2020 campaign with a huge September that gave some hope that he could carry it over. We’re still waiting for the bat to really wake up, but if Cabrera can add another couple of homers by the end of June, the chase to 500 in 2021 will start looking a lot more likely. In the meantime, we’re going to savor every one of these shots.

UPDATE: Alright, sorry Miguel, we spoke too soon. The big fella returned to the dish after the Tigers had given up the lead. Bases loaded. High intensity scenario. We used to live to see Cabrera come to the dish in this scenario. On Friday night, it was like times of old, as he launched a grand slam off of Greg Holland to provide the eventual margin of victory, and post number 491 on his historic march up the all-time home run leaderboard.