Ichiro Suzuki got two more hits Thursday and continued to swing his way to major league history.
Suzuki leads the American League with a .362 batting average, having turned a slow start into a strong finish. He is batting .510 this month and .481 since the All-Star break.
“He’s got a lot of confidence going now and he’s truly a hitting machine,” manager Bob Melvin said. “When he gets going, he gets confidence and it’s fantastic to see how many hits he’s getting.”
Suzuki is handling the bat now like he did in 2001, when he won the American League Most Valuable Player Award, the Rookie of the Year Award and the AL batting title with a .350 average.
He has put together seven hitting streaks of 15 games or more and had a 21-game streak until July 30. He needs just 19 hits to reach 200 for the fourth straight season, which would set another major league record.
On Wednesday, Suzuki passed Paul Waner – who had 840 hits from 1926-29 – to set the major league record for career hits in his first four seasons.
Suzuki’s 2-for-5 game Thursday gave him 181 hits this season and put him on pace to break the major league record of 257 hits in a season.
It has become a fantastic finish to a season that started slowly. Suzuki batted .264 in April.
“He was really unlucky in April because some of the ground balls he was hitting were right at people,” Melvin said. “All he has to do is make them go one step the other way.”
Those grounders are finding holes now, and Ichiro is looking much more like the unstoppable hitter he was in 2001.
“He’s just doing what Ichiro does,” Melvin said
The morning after: Willie Bloomquist’s head was throbbing when he arrived at the ballpark Thursday, the after-effect of a concussion he suffered as he won Wednesday’s game.
Bloomquist slid head-first into both the baseball and the knee of Twins third baseman Corey Koskie as he stole third base in the ninth inning. Knocked woozy, Bloomquist got to his feet and made it to the plate with the winning run.
Thursday morning, Bloomquist’s face was relatively unmarked, even though he suffered a cut on his nose and absorbed a hard blow to the left side of his face when he ran into Koskie’s knee.
“I felt like I got hit by a truck,” Bloomquist said. “I blacked out for a while, but then I saw the ball get away and I thought, ‘I think I’m supposed to go home.’”
Melvin wasn’t sure Bloomquist knew which direction to run.
“He saw a bunch of white uniforms over here and ran toward us,” Melvin said. “He was in rough shape when he got to home plate.”
Bloomquist was diagnosed with a mild concussion and was held out of Thursday’s game. X-rays on Koskie’s wrist were negative.
Pineiro progressing: In a week that has delivered disturbing news on Eddie Guardado and Rafael Soriano, two relief pitchers who will need major arm surgery, there also is good news.
Injured starter Joel Pineiro says he is responding well to treatment on his strained right elbow. That’s significant, given that Pineiro stands to be the opening-day starter next season barring winter changes to the pitching staff.
Pineiro, on the disabled list since July 27, said he spends 3 hours a day receiving ice and stimulation treatment on his elbow, and he’s confident the injury isn’t serious.
“They (trainers) told me I wouldn’t be able to do the stuff I’m doing now if it was worse than this,” he said.
Get-well tour in Everett: Pitcher George Sherrill, first base coach Mike Aldrete and the Mariner Moose will visit patients at the Pavilion for Women &Children today at Providence Everett Medical Center.
The visit is part of the Mariners’ statewide tour of hospitals, where they distribute autographs, photos and other gifts to children.
Kirby Arnold, Herald Writer
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