The Detroit Tigers' 2023 season is compete.

Miguel Cabrera's legendary career is complete.

Manager A.J. Hinch's third season is complete.

In front of 41,425 fans, the Tigers beat the Cleveland Guardians, 5-2, in Sunday's regular-season finale at Comerica Park. The sellout crowd witnessed the final game of Cabrera's 21-year MLB career, as well as the final game of Guardians manager Terry Francona's career.

THANK YOU, MIGGY: Miguel Cabrera ends legendary MLB run with tales from friends, teammates: 'It was all him'

The Tigers finished 78-84, claiming second place in the American League Central, two games ahead of the third-place Guardians and 10 games behind the first-place Minnesota Twins. Detroit posted its best finish in the standings since 2016, but the historic franchise has missed the postseason for eight seasons in a row, tied for the longest active MLB drought.

Cabrera received four plate appearances in his final game.

He struck out in the first inning, struck out in the third inning, popped out in the fourth inning and drew a four-pitch walk in the seventh inning. Guardians right-hander Enyel De Los Santos didn't throw him a pitch inside the strike zone.

Cabrera, who started as the designated hitter, played first base in the eighth inning, doing so for the first time since the 2021 season. The 40-year-old fielded a ground ball off the bat of Steven Kwan and touched first base to record the first out.

It was the final play of his 21-year MLB career.

After the groundout, Cabrera met his children on the field, took in all the cheers from the fans, shed plenty of tears and returned to the dugout. He hugged all of his teammates and coaches, too, before leaving the game.

A fellow Venezuelan

Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, a fellow Venezuelan, allowed two runs (one earned run) on four hits and one walk with five strikeouts over seven innings. The 30-year-old can opt out of his five-year, $77 million contract after the World Series with three years and $49 million remaining.

Rodriguez posted a 3.30 ERA in 26 starts this season. He posted 143 strikeouts compared to 48 walks across 152⅔ innings.

The Guardians scored against Rodriguez in the fourth and fifth inning. In the fifth, Tyler Freeman trimmed Cleveland's deficit to 3-2 with a solo home run to left field off Rodriguez's fastball.

He retired the final six batters he faced.

Rodriguez, who threw 64 of 94 pitches for strikes, used 52 four-seam fastballs (55.3%), 17 sliders (18.1%), 13 changeups (13.8%), seven cutters (7.4%) and five sinkers (5.3%). He generated nine whiffs and 16 called strikes.

Scoring the runs

The Tigers scored one run apiece in the first, second and third innings.

A two-run fifth inning separated the gap.

Kerry Carpenter worked a seven-pitch walk against right-hander Lucas Giolito, and then Matt Vierling launched a hanging up-and-in changeup for a two-run home run to left field. The ball, hit with a 108.1 mph exit velocity, traveled 414 feet.

The home run from Vierling increased the Tigers' lead to 5-2. He finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, one home run and two RBIs, posting 21 doubles and 10 home runs in 134 games this season.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers grab second in AL Central with 5-2 win over Guardians