Ichiro one hit shy of tying pinch-hits record
MIAMI — Amid all of the unknowns regarding the 2018 Miami Marlins, one offseason decision seems rather simple: Ichiro Suzuki and his team option.
The Marlins got another day closer to their deadline — they have until four days after the World Series to decide — with a 6-5 win Friday night against the Atlanta Braves.
Miami can bring Ichiro back for $2 million, a deal agreed to by both parties about a year ago. Manager Don Mattingly is a big fan of his backup outfielder, calling Ichiro “an amazing guy” again Friday. And, perhaps most significantly, the soon-to-be-44-year-old Ichiro himself said he hopes to be back in South Florida next season — and, indeed, wants to play until he’s “at least 50.”
“There’s no reason not to be back,” Ichiro said through interpreter Allen Turner. “It’s definitely a place I would want to be.”
This year has been different than all of the others in Ichiro’s quarter-century professional baseball career in that he inhabited a true reserve role for the duration, which has led him to the cusp of a curious place in history: the single-season pinchhits record.
Ichiro popped out to shortstop in his lone at-bat Friday, leaving him with 27 pinch-hits on the season. With two games to go, he is one shy of John Vander Wal’s record of 28, set in 1995 with the Colorado Rockies.
Mattingly, while giving Christian Yelich a day off Friday, started Tyler Moore in the outfield instead of Ichiro in part to have him available off the bench, a nod to the potential history.
“You get judged by your numbers and what you’ve left behind when you leave this game,” said Ichiro, who has 3,080 career hits, 22nd on the all-time list. “I think everybody in here would want to [break the record], because we’re all professionals. We’re all trying to do something and leave a mark on the game.
“I have an opportunity now to do something that can leave something behind. I think it’s a great opportunity.”
Said Mattingly: “Pinch-hitting is tough. I think it’s hit or miss. Early in the year, he didn’t seem to be as sharp as usual. As the season went on, he found his groove.”
Mattingly’s assessment stands up. After a slow start that saw him hit .148 in April and .195 in May, Ichiro has batted .313 with a .400 on-base percentage and .393 slugging mark in the second half.
“It’s never going to be easy, because it’s that one chance,” Ichiro said of pinch-hitting. “I was able to kind of get that and was able to really know what my role was, be ready for it.”
Ichiro didn’t come through Friday, but plenty of his teammates did.
Down five runs early after right-hander Dan Straily lasted three innings and 81 pitches, Miami scored six runs in the sixth and seventh.
Marcell Ozuna drove in three runs to bring his season total to 122, second-highest in franchise history — behind only Giancarlo Stanton’s 130 this year.
Brad Ziegler inherited rookie lefty Jarlin Garcia’s bases-loaded, one-out jam in the ninth, but escaped with the save and the Marlins’ win. He threw one pitch and got Matt Kemp to ground into a double play.