May 3, 2018 4 min read

Ichiro Suzuki was released Thursday by the Seattle Mariners and is shifting into a front office role with the team, although he is not completely shutting the door on playing again.

The Mariners announced that Suzuki was becoming a special assistant to the chairman effective immediately. The team said Suzuki will have an active presence with the team and assist with outfield play, base running and hitting.

But nowhere in the announcement do they say the 44-year-old is retiring, although Suzuki is precluded from returning to the active roster in 2018.

“We want to make sure we capture all of the value that Ichiro brings to this team off the field,” Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto said in a release. “This new role is a way to accomplish that. While it will evolve over time, the key is that Ichiro’s presence in our clubhouse and with our players and staff improves our opportunity to win games. That is our number-one priority and Ichiro’s number-one priority.”

Suzuki is in his 18th season and had appeared in 15 games this year for the Mariners. Suzuki started Wednesday night and went 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. He hit .205 in 44 at-bats and all nine of his hits this season were singles.

“Now I don’t feel as bad about walking Ichiro last night,” tweeted Oakland A’s lefty Brett Anderson , who started Wednesday’s game and walked Suzuki in the third inning.

Suzuki has spent parts of 13 seasons with the Mariners. He’s also played for Miami and the New York Yankees.

“With Ichiro’s track record of success, his personality, his unique perspective and his work ethic, he is singularly positioned to impact both our younger players and the veterans in the clubhouse,” Dipoto said. “We really don’t want him to change anything that he’s doing right now, with the exception that he will not be playing in games. We believe that Ichiro’s signing and his assimilation into our team has helped us this season and we want to make sure we continue that.”

While Suzuki can’t return to Seattle’s roster this season, anything beyond 2018 is unknown. While there are no guarantees of Suzuki returning, Seattle and Oakland do open the 2019 regular season with a two-game series in Tokyo.

“While this agreement only covers the 2018 season, it is our goal that Ichiro be a member of the Seattle organization long-term,” Dipoto said. “As his role evolves over the 2018 season, it will inform the team and Ichiro on his best fit with us in 2019 and beyond.”

Atlanta 11, N.Y. Mets: Julio Teheran took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, 20-year-old Ronald Acuna Jr. hit his second big league home run and Atlanta routed the New York Mets 11-0 to complete a three-game sweep that vaulted the young Braves into the NL East lead.

Kurt Suzuki, Acuna and Nick Markakis homered as Atlanta built a 6-0 lead against Jason Vargas, and Ozzie Albies went deep off Matt Harvey. Atlanta outscored the Mets 21-2 in the series, outhit them 41-15 and extended its winning streak to five.

Kansas City 10, Detroit 6: Lucas Duda had three hits and drove in four, the Royals pounded 3 homers and Kansas City beat the Detroit Tigers 10-6 to open their four-game series.

Salvador Perez, Jorge Soler and Alex Gordon each went deep for the Royals. Nick Castellanos had a homer for Detroit, which lost slugging DH Miguel Cabrera to a hamstring injury.

N.Y. Yankees 6, Houston 5: Aroldis Chapman struck out AL MVP Jose Altuve on three straight 101 mph fastballs with two on to end the game, and the New York Yankees got a key hit from rookie Gleyber Torres during a three-run rally in the ninth inning to beat the Houston Astros 6-5.

The Yankees took three of four from the team that beat them in the AL Championship Series last October. Astros closer Ken Giles, who punched himself in the face after a rough outing earlier in this series, didn’t pitch during New York’s comeback.

Toronto 13, Cleveland 11: Yangervis Solarte hit a grand slam in the 11th inning to give the Toronto Blue Jays a 13-11 win over the Cleveland Indians in the first game of a doubleheader.

Solarte’s shot off Tyler Olson ended the marathon after the teams had been rained out twice last month. Francisco Lindor homered twice for the Indians.