Ichiro Suzuki gets 2999th hit in majors; misses at 3000

Chris Rusin was fine with being part of history. He would have liked to have gotten a win along with it, too.

Japanese star Ichiro Suzuki became the 30th member of Major League Baseball’s elite 3,000-hit club after blasting a triple in the seventh inning against the Colorado Rockies.

Arriving from the Orix Blue Wave of the Pacific League in Nippon Professional Baseball as a 27-year-old major league rookie with the Seattle Mariners, Ichiro wasted no time showing that his talent and determination translated on MLB diamonds. He became the first player born in Japan to reach 3,000, and joined Paul Molitor, his former hitting coach in Seattle, as the only ones to hit the mark with a triple.

“We gave him a big hug and told him he deserved it”, said Dee Gordon, who was the first player to reach Suzuki as he stood on third. “It’s insane to be a part of”.

Charlie Blackmon homered among his four hits and drove in four runs for the Rockies, who moved within three games of the Marlins and St. Louis for the second NL wild-card spot on a night when history was almost made. The Marlins’ muscular right fielder and reigning Home Run Derby champion obliterated Chad Bettis’ 88 miles per hour changeup and sent the baseball flying deep into the left-center field seats for a solo homer to give Miami a 3-2 lead. The Rockies sent 13 batters to the plate and exploded for seven runs in the sixth inning en route to a 12-6 demolition of the Marlins at Coors Field on Saturday night. Fernando Rodney worked the ninth for his first save since coming to Miami on June 30 and 18th overall. He was charged with seven runs on eight hits over five-plus innings.

The Japanese star launched a long drive to right field that carried just beyond the reach of leaping Gerardo Parra.

Third base coach Lorenzo Bundy hugged Suzuki as Miami players came out of the dugout to congratulate him. According to Statcast, Stanton’s homer flew 504 feet, which would make it the longest home run in Coors Field history.

Suzuki ended an 0-for-11 slump with his hit. He batted again in the ninth and drew a walk.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been in a game where I’ve seen 3,000 hits”, Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. “I’d rather it had been a single”.

“There’s nothing that went right today”, Gray said. “I love this game and I love this team”, he said, often choking up. Suzuki breezed into third standing up.

Most members of the 3,000 hit club began their Major League Baseball careers around age 21, with the latest bloomer among them before Ichiro being Wade Boggs, who was 24 in his rookie season and went on to amass 3,010 hits.

Rene Lachemann, Colorado’s catching coach, went over to give Suzuki a hug as he left the field after the game.

The two coexisted relatively peacefully during their time as teammates, but Jeter appeared to continue to keep his distance from the polarizing Rodriguez on Sunday.

Rockies: Parra was activated from the 15-day DL and INF Rafael Ynoa was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque.