Ichiro First to Log 10 Straight 200-Hit Seasons
10th 200: Ichiro breaks his own record with his 200th hit for the 10th straight season.
Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki became the first player with 10 straight 200-hit seasons on Thursday, breaking his own record with a single to center in the fifth inning of the Mariners’ game against the Blue Jays.
Suzuki, whose 200 hits are the most in the majors, closed in on the mark with a two-out double to left off Blue Jays right-hander Shawn Hill in the third.
He wasted no time in setting the record, lining a single up the middle on the first pitch he saw from Hill in the fifth.
His teammates came to the top step of the dugout to applaud and Suzuki tipped his cap as the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
Suzuki surpassed Willie Keeler with his ninth consecutive 200-hit season last year. Keeler’s streak ran from 1894 to 1901.
Suzuki now has more 200-hit seasons than any player in AL history, breaking the record he shared with Detroit’s Ty Cobb. Pete Rose is the only other player to record 10 seasons with 200 or more hits.
Suzuki has led the majors in hits in each of the past four seasons, and six times in his 10-year career.
He closed in on the mark with his first four-hit game of the season in Tuesday’s series opener, then went 1 for 5 with a single Wednesday.
TORONTO (AP)
Seattle Mariners Ichiro Suzuki follows through for his 200th hit of the season during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Toronto BLue Jays in Toronto on Thursday Sept. 23, 2010. Suzuki became the first player with 10 consecutive 200-hit seasons in big-league history Thursday with a solid single in the fifth inning against the Blue Jays. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)