No holding back

PEORIA, Ariz. – Ichiro Suzuki breaks about 30 bats a year, but none created a stir like the one he shattered Tuesday.

With pitchers throwing live batting practice during the Seattle Mariners’ first full-squad workout, left-hander George Sherrill delivered an inside fastball that took a bite out of Suzuki’s bat.

It split into two pieces, with the barrel cartwheeling through the air before landing in foul territory near first base. Players on the field and fans watching the workout gawked.

And then a woman standing outside the fence boldly took things into her own hands. Literally.

She ducked under a rope and ran through an open gate and onto the field, retrieved the bat and scooted back to her place along the fence. As batting practice continued, a young boy standing with the woman shouted, “We got a broken bat!”

That prompted a Mariners official to retrieve the barrel from the woman and place it in the first-base dugout along with the handle. Suzuki wanted to keep the remnants of the bat to see why it broke, the Mariners said.

The scene amused Sherrill, especially when told that he’d probably make headlines in Japanese newspapers.

“Ichiro basically jammed himself,” Sherrill said. “It was supposed to be a fastball away, but it ran in on him.”

A few pitches later, Sherrill threw a slider that caused Suzuki to bail backwards out of the batter’s box.

“That one was a strike,” Sherrill said.

Suzuki wasn’t enthralled with facing pitchers in his first spring training workout, even though they would tell the hitters which pitches they’d throw.

“I really didn’t want to do it and I was hoping to just watch,” Suzuki said through an interpreter. “All the other players went out and started hacking away and I felt like I had to get in there, too. But personally, I don’t think it’s a good idea to go live-arm the first day.”

Mariners manager Mike Hargrove is no fan of it, either, although he said it was important to have pitchers face hitters after five days of work in the bullpen.

“It’s not batting practice. It’s pitchers’ practice and nobody is trying to disguise it as batting practice,” Hargrove said.

What surprised Hargrove was that the hitters were uncommonly aggressive on the first day. Typically, they’ll let pitches go by as they hone their timing.

“It would not have surprised me at all to see 35 or 40 non swings,” Hargrove said. “But they swung the bat. If it would have been me, I’d have just tracked the ball.”

Third baseman Adrian Beltre stung two line drives up the middle off right-hander Felix Hernandez, who otherwise was unhittable during his time on the mound.

Ouch: The Mariners’ injury report grew Tuesday after a mishap that claimed one player before he even arrived at camp.

Infielder Sean Burroughs, who signed a minor-league contract, fell while fishing on a beach last week in San Diego and suffered a separated right shoulder. The Mariners said Burroughs would remain in San Diego for rehab the next week to 10 days, then be re-examined.

Second baseman Jose Lopez, who sprained his right ankle during winter ball in Venezuela, also wasn’t on the field for the first workout as he continued to rehab. Pitcher Mark Lowe, recovering from elbow surgery in October, will have a magnetic resonance imaging exam today. Reliever Sean Green didn’t throw as scheduled Tuesday after he continued to feel tightness in his left hamstring. He may be out two or three more days, Hargrove said.

Of note: First baseman Richie Sexson on hearing his name in offseason trade rumors: “I wanted to be here. I wanted to be a part of turning this thing around. We have a legit chance to win.” … The epidemic of hamstring injuries has gone beyond the players. Jack Curtis, the Mariners’ mental strength coach, hurt a hamstring on the treadmill while taking a stress test during his physical exam. No word on how he’s handling it. … Darrin Garner, the Mariners’ minor league infielder coordinator, was hitting ground balls to Adrian Beltre with such force that he shattered his fungo bat.