In the midst of an improbable resurgence with the Marlins at the age of 42, Ichiro achieved the feat against the Colorado Rockies when he slugged a triple deep to rightfield in the seventh inning in Denver.
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The Marlins handed out Ichiro Suzuki bobbleheads – complete with a hit counter – to the first 12,000 fans through the gates on May 22 to commemorate his run to the 3,000 hit club.
The Giants played a close game on Sunday, allowing only two hits but somehow managing to lose 1-0 to the Washington Nationals.
Gray might have squirmed away from Ichiro and history, but he couldn’t escape the rest of the Miami Marlins’ lineup.
“My first three at-bats [my body felt so heavy], but after that hit a burden was lifted”, Suzuki told reporters.
By the fourth inning, every starting Marlins position player except Ichiro had a hit.
– No. 3,000 also ties Ichiro with Roberto Clemente at No. 29 on the all-time Major League Baseball hit list.
Ichiro Suzuki defined his career with speed and sharp hits.
Ichiro is not just another player at the end of his career that has nothing more to play for than passing a milestone, but he is producing.
“I want to heartily express my congratulations on his achievement of the brilliant record in the Japanese and United States baseball world”, the top government spokesman said. But the Miami Marlins now have the second NL Wild Card berth so there’s a chance. “I don’t have words for how wonderful that is for them to show that and support me”, said Suzuki, who collected at least 200 hits in each of his first 10 seasons with the Mariners. He got 1,278 hits while playing nine years in Japan before becoming the AL Rookie of the Year and MVP with Seattle in 2001. In the fifth, after DJ LeMahieu walked and David Dahl followed with a single, extending his hitting streak to 13 games to start his career, Arenado hammered his second homer to deep left-center off Marlins starter Adam Conley. It was only the second time a player had reached 3,000 hits with a triple. “It hasn’t been too long since Japanese players have started to come over here to play in the major leagues”. There are still very few. The journey of the Japanese player to that milestone has been extraordinary. Rockies INF Rafael Ynoa was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque.
The Marlins have to like their chances to win Monday’s opener as All-Star right-hander Jose Fernandez takes the mound in a stadium where he rarely loses. Marlins RHP Nefi Ogando was optioned to Triple-A New Orleans and LHP Hunter Cervenka was added to the roster after being acquired Saturday from Atlanta He made his Marlins debut and pitched a scoreless sixth.
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Arenado responded yet again the following inning on a double, closing the gap to just two runs … again … but the Rockies failed to move any closer to the Marlins in this last game of the series; their seventh run was the final run of the game.
