PEORIA, Ariz. – Ichiro Suzuki stretched his hitting streak to 20 games Thursday as he went 1-for-3 in the Seattle Mariners’ last preseason game in Arizona.
Ichiro flied out twice before lining a single to left, giving him at least one hit in each of the 20 preseason games he has played so far this spring. Seattle beat the San Diego Padres 4-1.
“I had always left Arizona in a bad mood and I wanted to turn it around this time,” Ichiro said before the Mariners moved to Las Vegas for their final preseason games in the runup to their regular-season opener in Seattle against the Minnesota Twins on April 4.
In Port St. Lucie, Fla., left-hander Kazuhisa Ishii allowed one hit in 5 2/3 strong innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers in his first start after being traded to the New York Mets two weeks ago.
Ishii held his old team to two hits before giving up a solo homer to Jason Repko in the sixth in the Mets’ 3-0 loss.
“I was able to show what I’ve been working on in my pitching since being traded and I’m satisfied with it,” Ishii said.
Mets infielder Kazuo Matsui went 0-for-3 while Norihiro Nakamura of the Dodgers was hitless in his only at-bat.
Elsewhere, Chicago White Sox infielder Tadahito Iguchi went 0-for-2 in a 9-8 defeat by the Colorado Rockies in Tucson Ariz. New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui had an RBI single on a 1-for-3 day in a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Tampa, Fla.
Meanwhile, Tampa Bay right-hander Hideo Nomo will make his first start of the regular season in a game against the Oakland Athletics on April 9, according to team officials.
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