Seiichi Uchikawa became the 51st player to reach Japan's iconic 2,000-hit milestone on Wednesday with an eighth-inning single in the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks' 3-0 win over the Seibu Lions.
"I finally, finally got it," said Uchikawa, who had gone hitless for two games since getting his 1,999th hit on Saturday. "That was brutal.
"In all those at-bats, I wasn't myself, I had butterflies. I got to the point where I wanted to get it over with just so I'd stop being a burden to the team."