Sore calf stalls Suzuki return to Mariners

SEATTLE – Ichiro Suzuki’s quest to make Major League Baseball history has been being stalled longer than expected because of his sore calf.

Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said on Tuesday that the nine-time All-Star will not play on Wednesday either, as the team had hoped.

Suzuki did some light work on Tuesday and Wakamatsu said the Japanese star was improving. Yet Suzuki missed his second consecutive game and likely remained sidelined until late this week.

He is 16 hits short of becoming the first player in MLB history to have nine consecutive seasons with 200 or more hits.

“I would not count on him (Wednesday),” Wakamatsu said. “I think we all want him to accomplish the same thing. That’s the goal. But we want to keep him on the field when we get him back.

“We’ve just got to make sure that on the first ball he hits he doesn’t pop (the muscle).”

Suzuki, who had been feeling his calf tighten for a while, left Sunday’s game in Cleveland before the start of the ninth inning. Wakamatsu noticed Suzuki wasn’t sprinting at normal speed down to first on a groundball back to the mound in the eighth inning. He pulled Suzuki before the injury could get worse.

Tuesday was the 10th time the 35-year-old Gold Glove outfielder was not in the lineup this season. He made his season debut late on April 15 following a bleeding ulcer. (AP)