DENVER — Don Mattingly would have liked for Ichiro Suzuki to get his 3,000th hit when the Miami Marlins were home. The first-year Marlins manager confessed to feeling a “little” pressure to keep writing Ichiro’s name on the lineup card to ensure that it happened.

“I wanted him to do it at home,” Mattingly said. “I think we all wanted him to do it.”

Just one problem.

In Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich, the Marlins might have the best all-around outfield in the major leagues. And finding playing time for Ichiro — their fourth outfielder — is not as simple as it might seem. Not for Mattingly, who is trying to win.

“Our guys have been really swinging the bats well in the outfield, and it’s been really tough (to find playing time for Ichiro),” Mattingly said. “We go back to the context of winning, and that’s where Ichiro fits into this thing perfectly. I don’t think he wants me to just put him in there to get this thing done and sacrifice the team when you’ve got somebody else that’s going good.”

And so Ichiro has started just twice over the Marlins’ past 13 games.

Relegated mostly to a pinch-hitting role, Ichiro is hitless in his past 10 trips to the plate and remains stuck on 2,998 major league hits — two shy of the milestone. A small army of 50 or so credentialed Japanese reporters and photographers has been on the trail — from Philadelphia to Miami to Chicago and now to Denver — to document the historic moment.

But unless Mattingly senses that one of his three starting outfielders is in need of a day off, Ichiro’s quest for hit No. 3,000 could linger for who knows how long.

The Marlins currently have the No. 1 hitting outfield in the majors with a combined OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of .860. The Boston Red Sox are second at .843. The next-best National League outfield belongs to the Pittsburgh Pirates at .819.

Asked if he felt the Marlins had the best outfield in the majors, Yelich replied: “I think so. Guys have played well up to this point. But it’s not for us to decide. It’s for everybody else to talk about.”

Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon was more blunt: “They’re the best.”

Outfield coach Lorenzo Bundy said he wouldn’t trade the Marlins’ threesome for any other.

“If you look at the total package, I would say our guys rank right on top,” Bundy said. “For what our guys are doing right now, I’ll take my guys any day of the week. They’re really, really good.”

Beyond hitting, each of the three has good speed and plays well defensively.

“You throw offense and defense together, Yelich already has won a Gold Glove, Ozuna is an All-Star and Stanton’s made five highlight plays in the last month,” Bundy said.