DETROIT — It was just a quick little kiss between the Detroit Tigers slugger and his favorite maple bat on the way to the batter’s box last Saturday night. The kind of hurried peck you might give your spouse on the way out the door to work.

Miguel Cabrera then sent his 42d home run crashing into the left-center-field pavilion seats at Comerica Park, a moonshot so high that Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said it looked like Cabrera had hit a golf ball.