By Miguel Mike Medina
The Tampa Bay Rays couldn’t spoil Ichiro Suzuki’s day as all the momentum was on the Mariners’ side. The Rays fall to the Mariners 7-4 on Saturday.
Brandon Lowe homered in his second straight game. Julio Rodriguez hit two home runs in this game. Cal Raleigh hit a three-run home run in the third inning – his 44th home run. Mariners scored four runs in the third inning.
Junior Caminero answered with a three-run home run in the sixth inning to cut the deficit to two. Caminero has 32 home runs this season. However, the Rays couldn’t find a way to score more runs after the sixth inning.
The Rays had men on first and second in the ninth, but the game ended in a strikeout. The Rays fall to 57-61, and the Mariners improve to 65-53.
Joe Boyle earned the loss after giving up six earned runs, walking five batters, and having five strikeouts. He pitched three innings.
Suzuki was honored before the game started. You saw the “Ichiro 51” placed on the field. The Mariners retired his jersey. Former teammates Dan Wilson, Ken Griffey Je, Edgar Martinez, Randy
Johnson was in attendance.
The ceremony was social and emotional for the Mariners organization, Ichiro, and his family. Suzuki was recently inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and now he’s honored by the franchise where he played for many seasons. Suzuki’s speech was epic and inspiring.
In 14 seasons with the Mariners, Suzuki played 1,861 games, including a .321 batting average with 2,542 hits and 438 stolen bases, the most in franchise history.
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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