Ichiro Suzuki featured in the Seattle Mariners' 9-7 Opening Day win over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday, kicking off his 28th and possibly last season of professional baseball.

Playing in Japan for the first time in seven years, Suzuki was in the lineup in right field and batting ninth in a flashback of the teams' 2012 Tokyo opener during the 45-year-old's first stint with the Mariners.

But while 45,787 fans at Tokyo Dome waited with bated breath for the veteran outfielder to show off his bat, Suzuki capped off another hitless outing with a walk in two plate appearances and made a fourth-inning exit.

"With Ichiro's situation coming into the series, I certainly want to give him an opportunity throughout to play, but also to get some other guys in the game," Mariners manager Scott Servais said.

"I understand everyone wants to see him go all nine innings, but we're trying to do the best thing for the team. Ichiro understands, and that's what played into the decision tonight."

Suzuki made his first appearance at the plate in the third inning to chants of "Ichiro! Ichiro!" with nearly every fan in the crowd recording the historic moment. When he popped out against A's right-hander Mike Fiers (0-1), the stadium let out a collective sigh.

In his second time up, Suzuki kept the crowd on the edge of their seats, ripping one ball fall before drawing a walk.

The Aichi Prefecture native advanced on a sac bunt, but stayed put on Mitch Haniger's sacrifice fly to right. Suzuki's trip around the bases was cut short the next batter struck out.

Despite Suzuki's underwhelming performance, Servais confirmed the Japanese legend will get another shot at glory on home soil in Thursday's finale at the same venue.

"Ichiro will play in the game tomorrow, not quite sure if he'll start or he'll come in the ball game, but he'll get out there and get in the game at some point."

"I thought his swings were really good, he just missed the ball. He pulled the ball foul, which was good to see. He was fired up, excited to play. We'll get him in there again tomorrow."

In the fourth, Suzuki was pulled from the game and hugged his teammates to heartfelt applause as he headed into the dugout.

Servais said he "just wanted to do the right thing" for fans in Japan in giving Suzuki the unusual treatment on the field.

"It's a great honor for us to come back here with Ichiro," he said. "We want to send him out here, in front of his home crowd in Japan, the best way we can, just trying to give him every chance to tip his hat, because he's certainly deserving of it."

He declined, however, to elaborate further on Suzuki's future with the club for the rest of the season.

"We're really taking it just a day at a time. The focus here was to make sure he was ready to go when we got to Tokyo. We'll wait and see and reevaluate when we get back to Seattle. We'll see where we're at, where he's at, and we'll go from there."

Stephen Piscotty, Domingo Santana, Khris Davis, Tim Beckham and Matt Chapman all delivered home runs for the Tokyo crowd on Wednesday night. After Ichiro popped out in the third, Santana launched a grand slam into the right field stands to put the Mariners up 5-2, a lead they never relinquished.

Seattle left-hander Marco Gonzales (1-0) struck out four and allowed four runs, three earned, over six innings.

Before the game, Suzuki warmed up in right field during the Mariners' batting practice, making trick catches and throwing balls into the growing throng of fans as they swarmed into the stadium to the see the Japanese icon in person.

While it remains to be seen if Suzuki has a place beyond the team's extended 28-man roster in Japan, Suzuki has said he intends to keep playing at the professional level until age 50.

After stints with the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins, Suzuki rejoined Seattle but was cut last May and promoted to a front office role for the rest of the season. He signed a minor league deal in January and but had a dismal preseason.

But while going 2-for-31 this spring, Suzuki was able to show off his defensive game -- still first-rate after 27 season -- in a pair of preseason friendlies with Japan's Yomiuri Giants, leading Giants manager Tatsunori Hara to conclude that "Ichiro hasn't changed."

"It was a special opening game," Suzuki said. "It's a little different (from the atmosphere of the preseason). There was a practice-like atmosphere when I was playing against the (Yomiuri) Giants, but today, not at all."

Suzuki's 13th Opening Day start tied him with Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. for the second most in team history.

Two former Mariners, pitcher Kazuhiro Sasaki and catcher Kenji Jojima, took part in the first pitch ceremony, with Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, who had four stints with the Athletics, standing in the batter's box.

New Mariner Yusei Kikuchi, another big draw of the two-game series, will take the mound on Thursday, his first major league start since being posted by the Seibu Lions in the offseason.