Record day for Ichiro

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — His long-awaited, automatically expected 200th hit of the season wasn't nearly the full Ichiro story of Saturday's third inning.

The milestone single to left field, marking the sixth straight time the Mariners' leadoff man has cleared the bicentennial hits hurdle, was only the opening act. What happened next was classic Ichiro as he advanced to second on an errant pickoff attempt by a nervous pitcher, produced a record-setting steal of third base, then trotted home on a sacrifice fly.

But a textbook example of how giving Ichiro even one base can quickly add up to four still couldn't spare Seattle from a 7-4 loss to the Royals.

On another forgettable day for the Mariners, in front of 12,116 fans at Kauffman Stadium, the only thing memorable was their soft-spoken, singles-hitting dynamo. In an era where the home run continues to define hitting greatness, Ichiro keeps on carving out his unique place in the sport's annals, one base at a time.

"I always make it a goal for myself every year," Ichiro said through a translator of securing 200 hits. "And the people watching, I think, are also aware of it. So for me to continue to do this is an important thing for me."

The sixth straight 200-hit season for Ichiro leaves him just one shy of the American League mark held by Wade Boggs. Ichiro also is two seasons shy of the major-league record set by Willie Keeler from 1894 to 1901, though Ichiro is already without peer when it comes to consecutive 200-hit seasons to start a career.

Ichiro admitted to feeling "stomach aches" in the past and there was even more strain this season as he coped with the expectations of others and the enormous pressure he puts on himself.

"It's heavier this year," he said of the self-imposed pressure to succeed. "Going from five [seasons] to six, it's heavier than going from one to two. And I think that's part of the hardship of being able to continue something."

Ichiro wound up with two singles and a double to push his season total to 201. During his journey around the bases in the third inning, he was on the front-end of a successful double steal — his 33rd consecutive swipe.

That broke the previous AL record set by Willie Wilson of the Royals in 1980. But so focused was Ichiro on the hits mark, he wasn't even aware of the steals record until informed of it afterward.

"You think Ichiro and you almost take for granted the fact that he gets 200 hits," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. "I don't know that people understand how absolutely difficult that is to do. For him to have done it six years in a row is absolutely amazing."

Ichiro's two runs scored in the first three innings gave Seattle pitcher Joel Pineiro a 2-0 lead to work with in his first start since being banished to the bullpen last month. Pineiro retired six of the first seven hitters he faced, but issued a one-out walk in the third and then suffered the indignity of having Joey Gathright tag him for Gathright's first major-league home run.

The lightning quick Gathright, who makes Ichiro appear tortoise-like at times, had gone 591 career at-bats without taking any pitcher deep.

Pineiro then yielded a two-run double to David DeJesus and a two-run triple to Shane Costa as the Royals scored five in his fourth and final inning.

The Mariners could take some consolation in the four scoreless innings worked by rookie Ryan Feierabend from there. But this wasn't going to be a repeat of Friday's stirring comeback.

Seattle scored two runs in the ninth, with Ichiro doubling home the last of those. But the Mariners still dropped their second game in three tries here.

"It tells me that he hasn't started in a while, as much as anything," Hargrove said of Pineiro, adding that Pineiro kept elevating his pitches as the game progressed.

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com