Seattle Mariners honored Ichiro Suzuki for getting his 2,000th hit and for reaching the feat of 200 hits for the ninth consecutive season, Tuesday night, states an Associated Press article. That was before A.J. Pierzynski hit a two-run, go-ahead single
Seattle Mariners honored Ichiro Suzuki for getting his 2,000th hit and for reaching the feat of 200 hits for the ninth consecutive season, Tuesday night, states an Associated Press article.
That was before A.J. Pierzynski hit a two-run, go-ahead single in the seventh inning and the Chicago White Sox beat the Mariners, 6-3.
Shawn Kelley (4-3) gave up a pair of singles to lead off the inning. The White Sox scored three times for a 5-3 lead, capitalizing on a shaky Seattle bullpen. Pierzynski got his hit off Mark Lowe.
Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 626th home run, his 15th this season, for the Mariners in the second inning, a drive to right-center that landed about 20 rows up in the stands. That bang came off former Seattle ace Freddy Garcia, the 404th pitcher to up a homer to Griffey.
Kenji Johijima doubled and Mike Carp followed with an RBI single. Jose Lopez added a run-scoring grounder for the 3-0 lead.
But the White Sox answered with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth.
Ian Snell gave up a leadoff single to Pierzynski, then walked Paul Konerko. Mark Kotsay laced a two-RBI double to rightfield before Snell got three straight outs to escape the inning.
Suzuki’s accomplishment came Sunday against the Texas Rangers when he set the record on an infield single in the second inning of the second game.
During that game, Suzuki, in his second at-bat, beat out a roller to shortstop Elvis Andrus to break a tie with Willie Keeler, who had at least 200 hits for eight consecutive seasons.
Accolades for Suzuki’s feat came not only from Seattle, but from across the ocean as Japanese baseball fans heaped praise.
“Sometimes we forget how difficult it is to accomplish these things amid a baseball schedule which is much tougher in the U.S. than in Japan,” said Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh. “It’s hard to find the words to describe what he has accomplished.”
