Who would’ve thought we’d ever see Ichiro Suzuki and Daisuke Matsuzaka on a baseball field again? It gets even weirder. Ichiro Suzuki on the mound and Daisuke Matsuzaka playing shortstop? Almost feels like some alternate reality.
16,272 fans showed up to watch Ichiro’s amateur club, Kobe Chiben, play at the Tokyo Dome on Thursday against the women’s hard-ball squad. Matsuzaka ended up batting clean-up and playing shortstop in the exhibition match, with Suzuki pitching and penciled in at the 9-hole. Despite them hanging it up a few years ago, their squad came away with a 7-1 win.
On the mound, Suzuki tossed 130 pitches over 9 innings while allowing just 2 hits and racking up 14 strikeouts. Surprisingly, he finished the day hitless, while Matsuzaka put together a 3-hit performance with an RBI. He also flashed the leather at shortstop on a ball that was destined for center field.
Didn’t have that on my bingo card for 2022.