Ichiro becomes the 30th member of baseball’s sacred 3,000-hit club, joining greats like Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays – just to name a few.
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So did Marlins first base coach/infield instructor extraordinaire Perry Hill, who wore his uniform trousers legs raised to the knees Ichiro-style and said, “this is the day”. The 3,000 hit bobblehead costs $35 and the hit king one goes for $40.
The Miami Marlins beat the Colorado Rockies 10-7 on Sunday in a game that featured Ichiro Suzuki’s 3000th hit. Only Cap Anson, who was 45 when he got his 3,000th hit in 1897, was older. His streak of 10 consecutive 200-hit seasons is the most by any player in Major League Baseball history.
2444-The number of singles in Ichiro’s 3,000 hits.
Ichiro, 42, got his big hit in the seventh inning.
Ichiro joined Paul Molitor, his hitting coach in Seattle in 2001, as the only players to triple for their 3,000th career hit. “I have a special relationship with him, and having something like this, that is the same thing he accomplished, makes it more special”.
The Marlins improved to 59-52 as a result, with Giancarlo Stanton also impressing once again with his homer in the fourth inning. Arenado homered to lead off the fourth, and the Rockies added another run on a groundball out by Cristhian Adames. Fernando Rodney, the fifth Marlins’ pitcher, worked the ninth to earn his 18th save this season and first with the Marlins.
Jon Gray has posted ace-quality starts since July 1 but he struggled mightily with his command and the Marlins plated four runs in the first inning raising the pitch count for Gray to well over 30 pitches.
On Sunday, Ichiro was hitless the first three times he came to bat, before hitting his triple in the seventh.
“I want to heartily express my congratulations on his achievement of the brilliant record in the Japanese and U.S. baseball world”, the top government spokesman said. The other is Minnesota Twins star Paul Molitor, who tripled at Kansas City on September 16, 1996.Suzuki’s teammates poured out of the third-base dugout to celebrate the moment.
On what was Faith Day at Coors Field, numerous Rockies fans were saying the same thing. Before play resumed, Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado reached out to Suzuki, who made light of the fact that he didn’t have quite enough power to put the ball in the seats. “Show him his respect, show him that we respect his milestone”. Suzuki’s teammates poured out of the dugout to celebrate the moment. “I love this game and I love this team”, he said, often choking up.
Manny Machado created some history of his own as he became just the second player in Major League Baseball history to hit homers in the first, second and third innings to help the Baltimore Orioles to a 10-2 series-sealing win against the Chicago White Sox.
“I was fortunate to have both the pleasure of competing against him and the honor of playing alongside him”. Everything he does is a tribute to the game of baseball.
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Suzuki gave the crowd a wave as he went into the dugout. He has been a major part for Miami this year which was not expected after he had the worst season of his career last year. Ichiro kept the pulse of the city alive by leading the league in hits seven times, batting.372 in 2004 (also breaking an 84-year old record for hits in a season), and constantly making highlight-worthy catches during a career with 10 gold gloves. Only getting a pinch hit every night…that was tough. “That’s how I felt today”. “I’ve just been more fortunate those other times”. In his first season with the Mariners he busted onto the scene hitting at a.350 clip with 242 hits and 56 stolen bases winning him the American League most valuable player award. “It was cool that he got a hit but it wasn’t cool that he scored”. The Japanese star joined Paul Molitor as the only players whose 3,000th was a triple. “It hasn’t been too long since Japanese players have started to come over here to play in the major leagues”.
