Ichiro’s 3,000th career MLB hit comes off ex-Cat Chris Rusin

Ichiro Suzuki has gotten his 3,000th career hit in the major leagues, becoming the 30th player to reach the milestone.

The Marlins outfielder did it Sunday with a triple in the seventh inning against Colorado at Coors Field. Miami players came out of the dugout to congratulate Suzuki, and he waved his helmet to acknowledge the cheers.

The 42-year-old Suzuki hit a long drive to right field that carried just beyond the reach of leaping Gerardo Parra. Suzuki joined Paul Molitor as the only players whose 3,000th hit was a triple.

Suzuki also become only the sixth player in big-league history to collect at least 3,000 hits and 500 stolen bases. Each of the others — Molitor, Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins, Rickey Henderson and Lou Brock — are in the Hall of Fame.

Suzuki was hitless in his first three at-bats of the game before the big hit against former University of Kentucky pitcher Chris Rusin.

Suzuki is in his 16th season in the majors. He got 1,278 hits while playing nine years in Japan before becoming the American League Rookie of the Year and MVP with Seattle in 2001.

He recorded his first major league hit on April 2, 2001 — a single off Oakland’s T.J. Mathews. That same season, he won both the American League’s Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year awards.

In 2004, he broke the major league record for most hits in a season with 262. He finished with at least 200 hits in each of his first 10 big-league seasons.

This story was originally published August 7, 2016 at 7:22 PM with the headline "Ichiro’s 3,000th career MLB hit comes off ex-Cat Chris Rusin."