Griffey blasted his 400th homer as a Mariner in the fifth inning — his first at Safeco Field in his second incarnation as a Mariner — giving Seattle the lead to stay in an 11-3 romp over the Angels.
And Ichiro, playing his first game of the season after a stint on the 15-day disabled list for a bleeding ulcer, managed to upstage even the sainted Junior.
He drilled a single in the third, then capped the Seattle scoring with a GRAND SLAM in the seventh inning off Angels' reliever Jason Bulger.
Just for added dramatic impact, the ‘grand salami’ was Ichiro's 3,085th career hit between Japan and Seattle, tying him with Japan hit king Isao Harimoto — a living legend of Japanese baseball who just happened to be in attendance at Safeco Field.
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However, on a 2-1 pitch, Griffey stepped into a fat Weaver offering and sent it on a familiar arc over the right-field wall. It was his 613th career homer — two during his second Seattle stint to add to the 398 he collected in his first go-round. He's the first player ever to hit at least 400 homers with one team and 200 with another.
As he crossed the plate to a huge ovation, Griffey pointed toward his family in a suite, and when the crowd continued to roar, came out of the dugout for a curtain call. But not before planting a kiss on his embarrassed 15-year-old son, Trey, who informed him, "Dad, we have to talk."
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Go M's!
