Ichiro stuns Rivera, Yankees with walk-off two-run homer

Published 11:37 pm Friday, September 18, 2009

SEATTLE — Sports Illustrated assigned a photographer to Friday night’s game at Safeco Field for a feature on New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.

The photo op unfolded nicely when Rivera pitched with a one-run lead in the ninth inning, but it was the Seattle Mariners who created an image that became one of the most dramatic regular-season moments in their history.

Down to their last out against a pitcher they hadn’t solved in 12 years, Ichiro Suzuki hit the first pitch he saw from Rivera into the right-field seats for a two-run home run that gave the Mariners a 3-2 victory.

It was Suzuki’s second straight game-winning hit, following his single in the 14th inning Thursday to beat the Chicago White Sox. In that one, he ran deep into the outfield to escape the good-natured slap-down of his teammates.

Friday, Suzuki could only keep his head down as he approached a mass of Mariners who had him cornered at the plate.

“Yesterday I tried to escape,” Suzuki said. “Today, there was nowhere to escape.”

Since 1997, there’s been no escape from a late-inning deficit against Rivera. That season, his first as the Yankees’ closer, he had blown a save against the Mariners.

Friday night, the Mariners trailed 2-1 after their own starting pitcher, Felix Hernandez, produced a Cy Young-type performance with a complete game.

Rivera blew through the first two hitters he faced in the ninth — Jack Hannahan and Mike Carp on called third strikes, giving Rivera 1,000 career strikeouts.

Manager Don Wakamatsu sent Mike Sweeney to pinch-hit for Josh Wilson, and Sweeney drove the first pitch from Rivera to the right-center field warning track for a double.

“He almost hit a home run on that, but it stayed in the ballpark,” Wakamatsu said. “Then you’ve got the guy you want up there, a guy who can get a base hit and do a lot of things.”

Suzuki already has done a lot of things this month. He recorded his 2,000th career hit early in the month and, Sunday, reached the 200-hit mark for the ninth straight season to break a 108-year major league record.

What Suzuki rarely does is sacrifice his ability to hit for average with the power that is clearly apparent during batting practice.

The first pitch against Rivera was an exception.

Suzuki drove it out to right field, his 10th home run this season.

“I think we’re going to start fining him for not hitting enough home runs,” Wakamatsu said.

Suzuki said he didn’t approach the at-bat thinking about a home run.

“With Mariano, you can’t plan anything,” Suzuki said. “Sweeney created the opportunity. He set up the at-bat. I went with my emotions.”

The home run not only gave Mariners starter Felix Hernandez a victory in a game that looked like a tough loss, but also a huge boost to his Cy Young Award hopes.

Hernandez allowed nine hit and one earned run, pitching his second complete game this season. He’s 16-5 with a 2.45 earned run average this season, and his ERA this month is 0.58 in three starts.

“Phenomenal,” Wakamatsu said. “He means so much to this ballclub and he went out with a lot of passion and pitched his tail off.”

Among Hernandez’s competition for the Cy Young, Zack Greinke of the Royals is 14-5, 2.14 and C.C. Sabathia, today’s Yankee starter against the Mariners, 17-7, 3.42.

Yankees right-hander A.J. Burnett was just as rough on the Mariners through seven innings, scattering seven hits and a run — on Jose Lopez’s RBI single in the third, giving him a career-high 90 RBI this season.

Suzuki had three other hits but also was thrown out twice on the bases.

Catcher Jose Molina threw him out trying to steal in the third inning and Burnett picked him off first base after a single in the seventh. TV replays showed Suzuki reached the bag just as first baseman Mark Teixeira tagged him, and Wakamatsu argued with first-base umpire Mike Reilly.

Two innings later, the only people who could tag Suzuki were his deliriously happy teammates at home plate.

“Two days in a row, game-winners,” Wakamatsu said. “It’s only fitting that he’s the one who hit it.”

It made for a great picture, whether Sports Illustrated got it or not.

Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet\marinersblog