By YUKI YAMAGUCHI/ Staff Writer
November 4, 2022 at 18:23 JST
Ichiro Suzuki pitches in an exhibition game against high school students at Tokyo Dome on Nov. 3. (Jin Nishioka)
Two retired baseball legends, Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka, made a comeback as teammates for a special exhibition game, but took on different roles.
Kobe Chiben, an amateur baseball team led by Suzuki, 49, played at Tokyo Dome against a team of 20 selected female high school seniors on Nov. 3.
The event was part of a program to strengthen girls’ participation in baseball.
The first exhibition game in the program was held in December 2021. The Nov. 3 game was the second one.
Suzuki, a hitting machine who starred in right field for the Seattle Mariners, was usually a lead-off hitter in his career, which ended with 4,367 hits.
For the exhibition game, he batted ninth in the order and went hitless in four at-bats.
But much to the surprise of the around 16,000 fans in the stands, Suzuki was the starting pitcher.
He mixed fastballs and sliders, and one of his pitches clocked 134 kph. He went the full distance, allowing two hits, striking out 14, and picking up the win in the 7-1 victory.
It was the first time for Suzuki to play at Tokyo Dome since his last game as a professional player in March 2019.
“I am full of emotion being able to return here like this,” Suzuki said.
“I am physically wrecked, but it felt good that I pushed myself to my limits today,” he said about his pitching performance.
Matsuzaka, 42, who achieved star status as a pitcher in Japan while in high school, had 170 career wins as a professional and helped the Boston Red Sox win the World Series in 2007.
He retired from baseball in October 2021.
With Suzuki on the mound, Dice-K started at shortstop and batted cleanup.
He was three for four with one run batted in.
But in the third inning, he made a base-running blunder that earned him a scolding from Suzuki--and laughter from the crowd.
In the first inning, Suzuki gave up a triple to An Morisaki of Fukuchiyama Seibi High School in Kyoto Prefecture.
She scored her team’s only run.
“I was watching Ichiro’s pre-game batting practice,” Morisaki said. “I tried to imitate it and was able to get a hit.”
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