Ichiro Suzuki drifted back cautiously and put his hand on the left-field wall before leaping to make an awkward catch that robbed Mark Reynolds of an extra-base hit in the sixth inning yesterday.
Although the play wasn’t pretty, it was effective.
“It’s been a while since I played left,” Ichiro said through a translator after the Yankees beat the Orioles, 12-3. “I was a little nervous. The one I caught out there, I probably jumped like three inches.”
Ichiro likely will have a few more adventures as he attempts to figure out how to play a new position, since it was just the second time he started in left in his 11-plus year major league career.
He remembered his other appearance there quite clearly, since it also occurred in The Bronx, across the street.
“It was the last game we lost here at Yankee Stadium in 2001 that got us out of the playoffs,” Ichiro said of the Mariners’ Game 5 defeat in the ALCS.
Asked why he switched positions in such an important game, Ichiro joked: “You have to ask Lou.”
Lou Piniella, Seattle’s manager at the time, moved Ichiro to left to make room for Jay Buhner in right. The strategy didn’t pan out, as the Yankees won that game, 12-3, as well.
But the Yankees plan on using Ichiro frequently in their spacious left field, since Nick Swisher will return to right soon after Mark Teixeira is healthy enough to play first base.
Ichiro, who has won 10 Gold Gloves, managed to impress third base coach Rob Thomson. The two have worked on the transition to left since the July 23 trade.
“We had him out in left field right away in Seattle because we knew this was coming,” said Thomson, who oversees the Yankees’ outfielders. “I was watching … how easily he went after fly balls even with the ball hooking toward the left-field line. It was amazing, almost like it was second nature to him.”
Ichiro admitted it is not and won’t predict how long he expects it to take him to get acclimated.
“I really don’t know,” he said. “I say that because it’s not just Yankee Stadium. I’m going to be at other ballparks that I’ve never experienced. … I just have to do it.”
He also got another single yesterday, extending his hitting streak to nine games. It’s the longest hitting streak to start a Yankee career since Swisher hit in nine straight in April 2009, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Ichiro has had exactly one hit in every game as he tries to fit in with his new team.
“When I come to the ballpark, it does feel like home now,” Ichiro said. “I haven’t found a place to live yet. I’m just in a hotel. That might take a little bit.”
dan.martin@nypost.com