The Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics played the second game of the 2019 Japan Opening Series in the Tokyo Dome on Thursday in the final game of Ichiro's storied career. As it turned out, the second game of the 2019 season occasioned the first extra-innings affair of the 2019 season. 

The Mariners wound up prevailing by a score of 5-4 in 12 innings (box score). They pushed the eventual winning run across in the top of the 12th when Domingo Santana plated Dee Gordon on a force-out that was almost an inning-ending double play. Santana's hustle, though, allowed the run to score. In the bottom of the 12th, Jurickson Profar put a charge into one with two outs, but the ball settled into Santana's glove just in front of the fence. Hunter Strickland picked up his second save in as many games. 

For the Mariners, it's the first time they've started a season 2-0 since 2014, and on the other side the A's haven't started 0-2 since 2016. This is also the first time in Japan Opening Series history that a team has won both games. 

Now for some takeaways from this one ... 

Junior was in the house

Ken Griffey Jr., who's been on hand throughout the series taking photographs, and Keiichi Yabu, who pitched for the A's in 2005, teamed up for the ceremonial first pitch ... 

Accommodating swing on the part of Mr. Griffey. 

It was Ichiro's final MLB game

Speculation had it that the first game of the Japan Series was the final game of Ichiro's singular career, but he wound up batting ninth and playing right in Scott Servais' lineup for the second and final contest. Not long after Thursday's contest got started, this report began circulating ... 

That was report was confirmed by CBS Sports HQ's David Samson. Ichiro, 45, played in his 2,653rd MLB game, and in what turned out to be his final plate appearance he almost beat out an infield single against Lou Trivino. Then just prior to the bottom of the eighth, Servais allowed Ichiro to have the spotlight once more by lifting him from right field ... 

And Junior was waiting on him in the dugout ... 

Dee Gordon, among many others, was feeling the moment ... 

Ichiro will retire as one of just four players to rack up least 3,000 hits and 10 Gold Gloves in MLB, and he's surely bound for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Yusei Kikuchi pitched well in his MLB debut

The 27-year-old lefty Yusei Kikuchi, who signed a four-year, $56 million deal with the Mariners in early January, made his MLB debut on Thursday in his native Japan. The results were mostly strong ... 

player headshot
Yusei Kikuchi
LAA • SP • #16
vs. OAK, 3/21/19, MLB debut
IP4 2/3
H4
R2
ER1
SO3
BB1
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Of his 91 pitches, 58 went for strikes. His ERA now stands at 1.93 after one MLB start. Kickuhi showed command of four pitches, including a fastball that appeared to sit in the mid-90s. Here's a representative sample ... 

And like a lot of Japanese hurlers, Kikuchi's delivery includes deception and flourishes designed to upset the batter's timing ... 

Kikuchi allowed his lone earned run on a Marcus Semien RBI single in the fifth. Later that same inning, after Kikuchi had been lifted, an inherited runner scored on a Jay Bruce error at first base. Given that he was making his first MLB start and no doubt doubly feeling the pressure pitching in his home country, Kikuchi's debut was certainly a success. 

Mitch Haniger smoked one

We don't have the digits on it, but this one off the bat of Mitch Haniger went very many several feet ... 

Yeah, he pretty well wrecked that Marco Estrada offering. Haniger's coming off a 2018 season in which he hit 26 homers for Seattle. 

Khris Davis came up big

The Oakland slugger homered in the opener on Wednesday, and on Thursday he came through with a clutch two-out, game-tying single in the bottom of the seventh ... 

As noted, those were the 500th and 501st RBI of Davis' career. 

And to sum it all up ...