Tigers' Miguel Cabrera to undergo surgery, miss rest of season

Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera stands in the dugout on May 29, 2018, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) AP

DETROIT -- Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera will undergo surgery and miss the rest of the 2018 season after rupturing a tendon in his left bicep.

Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire announced the news after Tuesday's game.

"It's a very sad day for our baseball team," said Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire. "He's a special player and a special person to have around here. It's a blow. I feel terrible for him."

Cabrera left the game in the third inning after suffering the injury after a missed swing. He dropped his bat and walked immediately off the field.

"He took a swing, missed the ball and the thing popped. It's pretty sad," Gardenhire said. "He left his bat and started walking. He knew it. He felt it pop. That's a bad feeling."

Gardenhire said he was with Cabrera when he found out the injury would require season-ending surgery.

"He feels like he's letting people down," Gardenhire said. "He's a warrior. He feels terrible that he's letting the team down. I have total respect for that man. He's a hell of a baseball player."

Gardenhire said he didn't know enough about the injury to offer an outlook for the 2019 season.

"This is a serious injury. Understand that," he said. "I'm not a doctor, though. I can't tell you. Everybody's going to be different. Once they go in there surgically and look at this thing, we'll all know more about how it's going to come back and how he's going to heal."

Backup catcher John Hicks will become the Tigers' new first baseman, Gardenhire said. Grayson Greiner will take over Hicks' backup role.

The Tigers are recalling infielder Ronny Rodriguez to fill Cabrera's roster spot, at least for the next few days.

After delivering the news to a somber post-game clubhouse, Gardenhire told the players to be ready to compete on Wednesday. Then he told right fielder Nicholas Castellanos to turn on some music.

"Now we've got to step up, myself included," Castellanos said. "Everybody has to do their part to pick up the slack. It starts tomorrow."

Castellanos said he is ready to continue the leadership role he started to take this year.

"Now it's just being the voice and making sure everybody else is feeling good and no one is down and no one is questioning themselves and everybody's just going out and doing their thing," he said. "That's all really I can do. It started with going and putting music on in the clubhouse after that game today. Forget it. We lost. We've got another one tomorrow. Sulking and being in a bad mood and dwelling on what happened ain't going to help."

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