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Jaywalking stymies Ichiro

Toronto's Vernon Wells, right, congratulates teammate Frank Menechino after Menechino homered to break a 2-2 tie. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press
Toronto's Vernon Wells, right, congratulates teammate Frank Menechino after Menechino homered to break a 2-2 tie. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

TORONTO — Ichiro Suzuki might not get a chance to break the record for most hits in a season if other teams follow Toronto’s lead.

The Blue Jays intentionally walked Suzuki in the seventh inning and escaped a bases-loaded jam. Frank Menechino hit a tiebreaking homer in the home half to help Toronto defeat the Seattle Mariners 4-2 Wednesday night.

Suzuki went 2 for 3 and has 214 hits. He has 30 games left to break George Sisler’s mark of 257 hits set in 1920 with the St. Louis Browns.

He may be stuck in a Catch-22 — to have a chance at the record, he needs to stay hot, but if he keeps hitting like he did in August (.463, 56 hits), teams may choose to intentionally walk him.

“Of course you want to hit, but it’s not like you’re going to tell them to throw to me. It’s a part of the game,” Ichiro said through a translator.

After Toronto starter David Bush walked Miguel Olivo with two outs in the seventh and Jose Lopez singled, Bush intentionally walked Ichiro. Bush got out of the jam by forcing Randy Winn to pop out.

“It would almost be foolish at that point to let one of the best hitters in the game beat us in a clutch situation,” said Bush, who was far more comfortable facing Winn.

“I think anybody would be with the way Ichiro is swinging the bat,” Bush added. “He’s got 214 hits. I threw some pretty good pitches to him earlier in the game and he got base hits on them.”

Bret Boone hit a two-run homer for the Mariners, who had their season-high, five-game winning streak snapped.

Ichiro has been intentionally walked 12 times this season.

“Hopefully, we don’t see too much of that kind of stuff down the stretch,” Seattle manager Bob Melvin said.

Menechino homered off Ron Villone (5-5) to lead off the seventh. After Vernon Wells walked and advanced to third on Villone’s errant pickoff attempt, Carlos Delgado hit an RBI single to give Toronto a 4-2 lead.

Bush (3-3) allowed two runs on five hits in seven innings, while striking out six and walking three. The rookie right-hander has allowed three earned runs or fewer in each of his last six starts, and in nine of 11 outings overall.

“He’s pitched a lot better than what his record shows,” Delgado said. “He did what we ask for in every starter.”