Ichiro BM115475

The Miami Marlins visited the Washington Nationals as the summer of 2017 was coming to an end on August 29th. Ichiro Suzuki started the game on the bench but was available if manager Don Mattingly needed him. Down 5-2, that moment came in the visitor’s half of the seventh inning. After Miguel Rojas reached base on a single, Ichiro was called upon to pinch hit for Jarlin Garcia. This baseball was used for the first two pitches of the at-bat. The first pitch was a 92.4 MPH fastball, just a bit off the plate for ball 1. Pitcher Edwin Jackson again went to his fastball for the second pitch. A 92.5 MPH fastball this time was fouled off by Ichiro, and the ball was replaced. As the at-bat continued, Ichiro ran the count to full with a few foul balls before hitting the eighth pitch of the at-bat to center field for a single. This single was the 3069th hit of Ichiro’s MLB career. The next batter was Dee Gordon, who hit a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners. On a throwing error, Gordon safely advanced the second base, Ichiro made it to third, and Rojas scored. Sensing a rally, the Nationals walked Giancarlo Stanton, who had already tagged them for a home run earlier in the game, to load the bases. Oliver Perez was brought in to replace Edwin Jackson on the mound. The next batter, Christian Yelich hit a ground ball to third base, where Anthony Rendon fired home to catcher Matt Wieters to get Ichiro out on a force out for the first out of the inning. Marcell Ozuna struck out in the next at-bat, and J.T. Realmuto ended the inning by grounding out to the shortstop for the third out. This inning was the last of the offensive scoring for both teams. The Nationals had three players cross the plate in the bottom of the seventh, and held the 8-3 lead until the end of the game. The loss dropped the Marlins to 66-65, 14 games behind the Nationals, and 5.5 games behind Colorado for the second Wild Card spot.