With nothing left to play for this season, either soon-to-be-replaced Miami Marlins manager Dan Jennings decided to have some fun (or shrug his shoulders and say what the you-know-what) or Ichiro Suzuki had a wish that he saw the opportunity to fulfill.
Down 6-2 to the Phillies in the eighth inning, Suzuki took the mound to pitch for the Marlins. Really. The alert to Baseball Twitter, surely compelling thousands of viewers to switch games on their MLB.TV, came from Miami Herald beat writer Clark Spencer:
Ichiro is taking over in the 8th to pitch!
— clarkspencer (@clarkspencer) October 4, 2015
Showing a smooth delivery on the mound, Suzuki ranged between 86 and 87 mph on his fastball while also flashing a changeup and slider. Maybe it was a slider. It was a bit hard to tell.
The outfielder gave up one run on two doubles, but also recorded two flyouts and a groundout. Not ideal, but not bad for a major league debut in relief. That pitching line makes for an amusing footnote to Ichiro’s Hall of Fame résumé.
But with Ichiro being a free agent, maybe he just increased his market value. How many reserve outfielders nearing 3,000 hits with pitching experience are available on the open market? Maybe the Marlins will bring him back as an outfielder and reliever next season.
In other Marlins news, Dee Gordon won the NL batting title with a .333 average and his 58 stolen bases gave him the final lead in that category.
