Ichiro and the Mariners posted the first win of the MLB season.
The game at the Tokyo Dome marked the earliest opening day ever — the summer sport actually started on the last day of winter. No doubt, most fans in North America were sound asleep when Oakland’s Mike Fiers threw the first pitch at 5:36 a.m. EDT .Tim Beckham also homered as several Seattle newcomers excelled. Khris Davis, who led the majors with 48 home runs last year, Stephen Piscotty and Matt Chapman connected for the A’s.
A packed crowd of 45,787 was buzzing for its favourite star, sending cheers, chants and camera flashes for Ichiro bounding all around the park. Signs and Ichiro jerseys were plenty, too. At 45, Ichiro became the second-oldest position player to start an opener, only a few months younger than Julio Franco was for Atlanta in 2004.
Batting ninth and playing right field, Ichiro popped up and worked a walk his two times up. After taking his defensive spot in the bottom of the fourth inning, he was pulled to another ovation, with his Mariners teammates gathering in the diamond for hugs. Ichiro is expected to play again Thursday when the two-game series finishes, and that might be the end of a sensational pro career that began in Japan in 1992 when he was at 18. He stopped playing last May to become a Mariners special assistant — after totalling 4,367 hits on both sides of the ocean — and struggled in spring training this year.
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