Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly, like just about everyone else in the baseball world, was glued to the television on Thursday morning as Ichiro Suzuki took his last MLB at-bat.
Facing a 1-2 count in the top of the eighth inning as the Seattle Mariners played the Oakland Athletics in a two-game series in Tokyo, Ichiro hit a slow roller to shortstop Marcus Semien and barely missed legging out an infield single.
“I was hoping he would beat that out,” Mattingly said in Jupiter before the Marlins traveled to Port St. Lucie to play the New York Mets in a Grapefruit League game.