Miami Marlins hold on to beat Rockies as Ichiro makes history
Ichiro got his hit. And the Marlins got the win.
Ichiro Suzuki belted a triple off the wall in right at Coors Field in Sunday’s seventh inning, becoming the 30th player in major-league history to collect 3,000 career hits.
He ended up scoring in the Marlins’ 10-7 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
The milestone hit came off Rockies reliever Chris Rusin, and after Ichiro had created some suspense by going hitless in his first three at-bats. He was the only Marlins position player not to have a hit to that point.
But he brought the crowd to its feet when he drove a long fly ball to right. Gerardo Parra leaped up against the fence but couldn’t come up with the catch. Ichiro raced into third with a standup triple.
Ichiro became the second player to triple for his 3,000th hit. Paul Molitor, who was once Ichiro’s hitting coach in Seattle, tripled as well when he recorded his 3,000th hit on Sept. 16, 1996.
The Marlins struck early against Rockies starter Jon Gray, scoring four runs in the first before knocking him out with four more in the fourth.
And all the runs off Gray came two at a time, with Christian Yelich, Jeff Mathis and Martin Prado each getting two-run hits, and Giancarlo Stanton belting an opposite-field homer with a man aboard.
Stanton now has 24 home runs this year.
Adam Conley needed all the run support he could get. It was all the left-hander could do just to make it through the five innings necessary for the decision, as he allowed six runs, four of them coming on a pair of homers by Nolan Arenado.
By the time Conley came out, the Marlins’ 8-2 lead had shrunk to 8-6.
Third baseman Prado came out in the sixth when he fouled a ball off his foot and limped back to the dugout.
Fernando Rodney worked the ninth for his first save as a Marlin.
Manager Don Mattingly said he didn’t use A.J. Ramos because of a hand injury that has been bothering the Marlins’ regular closer.
cervenka getting another chance
Hunter Cervenka was on the cusp of hanging up his glove when the Cubs released him in 2015.
“Yeah, I would say I was pretty close to calling it quits,” Cervenka said.
But the journeyman minor-leaguer decided to give it one more shot, signed an Independent League contract with Sugarland, ended up signing a minor-league deal with Atlanta and blossomed overnight into a top situational lefty.
On Sunday at Coors Field, he made his Marlins debut, one day after they acquired him in a trade with the Braves. Cervenka, who pitched a scoreless sixth inning, went from a last-place team to one in playoff contention.
“It really hasn’t set in that I’m in a playoff race now,” Cervenka said. “You go to the ballpark [with Atlanta] every day and it’s a grind. I’m excited to see what’s in store here.”
a long, long way
Stanton hit a tape-measure homer on Saturday that was measured at 504 feet by MLB.com’s Statcast. ESPN Stats and Info had it measured at 495 feet.
The blast was the longest ever recorded by Statcast, which began crunching home run distances last season. It equaled the longest home run hit over the past eight seasons, according to ESPN.
▪ Derek Dietrich tied a franchise record on Saturday when he was hit by a pitch for the 51st time. That tied the mark held by Alex Gonzalez.
COMING UP
▪ Monday: Marlins RHP Jose Fernandez (12-6, 2.87 ERA) vs. San Francisco Giants RHP Johnny Cueto (13-3, 2.73), 7:10 p.m., Marlins Park.
▪ Tuesday: Marlins RHP Tom Koehler (8-8, 4.05) vs. Giants LHP Matt Moore (0-0, 3.00), 7:10 p.m., Marlins Park.
This story was originally published August 7, 2016 at 9:58 PM with the headline "Miami Marlins hold on to beat Rockies as Ichiro makes history."