10-year Marliniversary: Ichiro passes Pete Rose as baseball's global hit king

To baseball fans in America, most would still probably consider Pete Rose to be the all-time leader in hits. Ask those in Japan and other parts of the world and one might get a different answer.

On this day 10 years ago, Ichiro Suzuki passed Rose for the most hits at the highest levels of baseball and did so as a member of the Miami Marlins. Coupled with his time in Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, Suzuki collected his 4,257th hit in a 6-3 loss to the San Diego Padres.

As the Marlins went for the three-game sweep of the Padres at Petco Park on June 15, 2016, Suzuki sat one hit behind Rose with 4,255 for his career in Nippon and Major League Baseball. He wasted little time drawing even.

On just the second pitch of the game, Suzuki dribbled one just past the plate but was able to use his speed for the infield single and hit No. 4,256. He’d come around to score the game’s first run on an RBI single by Christian Yelich later in the inning.

Over his next three at-bats, Ichiro grounded out twice and struck out once. With the Padres up 6-3 after eight innings, there was no guarantee that Suzuki would get another at-bat. A single by Adeiny Hechavarría to lead off the ninth, however, gave Ichiro a chance to bat against closer Fernando Rodney with two outs in the inning.

On a 2-1 pitch, Suzuki smashed Rodney’s offering into the right-field corner for a standup double. The two-bagger not only broke Rose’s record, but it brought the tying run to the plate. Unfortunately for Miami, Rodney was able to get Martín Prado to fly out to end the contest.

As for the game itself, the Padres used five unanswered runs to avoid the sweep. After San Diego’s B.J. Upton tied the game with a solo home run in the second, an RBI single from J.T. Realmuto and a sacrifice fly from Miguel Rojas gave the Marlins a 3-1 lead in the fourth. The Padres scored a run in the fourth before taking the lead on a two-run single from Derek Norris during a three-run fifth.

In addition to Ichiro’s two hits, Hechavarría added a pair of knocks for the Marlins. Upton finished 3-for-3 with the aforementioned home run, two runs scored and two RBIs for San Diego.

After giving up the history-making hit to Suzuki, Rodney would become his Marlins teammate via trade later in the year. Between Japan and Major League Baseball, Ichiro finished with 4,367 hits. He moved ahead of Pete Rose on this day a decade ago.