KND Report: Ichiro blasts walkoff homer to beat Yankees

September 19, 1:39 AMAsian-American Sports ExaminerMichael Street

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One of the two times Ichiro was picked off tonight,
but he redeemed himself with a walkoff homer (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

For the second straight night, Ichiro's bat spoke last for Seattle as he smashed a homer into the grandstands against Mariano Rivera, one of the best closers of all time.

He's not known for his power, but Ichiro can still lay into one when he's got a mind to, and he did tonight.

Mike Sweeney started things off for the Mariners in the ninth when he got a two-out pinch hit double.

Sweeney crushed Rivera's first pitch into deep right center, then gestured back to the dugout. Manager Don Wakamatsu sent in a pinch-runner, though it didn't end up mattering in the end.

That's because Ichiro came up behind him and he didn't wait for Mariano to get ahead of him, either. He laid into the first pitch he saw and launched a towering shot into the right field bleachers for a game-winning shot.

Yesterday's walk-off single was only Ichiro's second walkoff hit this season; this has to be his first back-to-back walkoff hits in his MLB career.

Kattobase Nijonjin Dairiigaa!

It capped a night when Ichiro had already collected three singles off of the Yankees' A.J. Burnett, who gave up 7 hits altogether,

But Ichiro was then picked off of first base in two different innings, the first time in his career he'd been picked off twice by the same pitcher. In a game that ended up 2-1 in the ninth, those were precious runs he'd wasted.

Fortunately, he gave both back with his monster shot tonight.

After the game, Sweeney said that the team, which isn't mathematically eliminated from the Wild Card, would keep fighting until the end.

Tonight, they looked like a team ready to do just that.