Erratic, inefficient, slow-working and uncertain, Yusei Kikuchi drudged through two-plus hard-to-watch innings Saturday, finishing with as many hits allowed as outs recorded. As ArdenZwelling writes, maybe the best thing for him is a break.
Of course, it was never going to be easy Saturday with the Milwaukee Brewers sending Corbin Burnes to the hill. As per usual, the National League Cy Young contender was tremendous, dotting high-spin, mid-90’s cutters away from right-handers and into the two lefties in Toronto’s lineup, while racking up whiffs with strike-to-ball breaking pitches.
As did Kikuchi. He threw 40 pitches in the first inning, 12 of them in a walk of Willy Adames, who patiently fouled off four consecutive full-count sliders before looking at one that missed the zone. Adames eventually scored two singles later, as Trent Thornton began to warm in the Blue Jays bullpen. It wasn’t until after he clocked Mike Brosseau with an errant fastball that Kikuchi finally got into the dugout by striking out his second batter of the inning.
In a season with no shortage of difficult-to-watch Kikuchi outings, this may have been the worst. And that includes a four-walk afternoon in Kansas City earlier this month when he recorded only two outs on 45 pitches. Remember, Kikuchi only allowed three runs that day. Saturday, he allowed five. And while only two of them will count as earned due to the Bichette error, anyone who watched the start knows exactly why it went the way it did.
And as Kikuchi kept missing with his fastball — just 15 of the 37 he threw resulted in strikes — it only got easier for the Brewers to sit spin. Four of the six hits Kikuchi allowed came off sliders and three of them were put in play at 99-mph or harder.
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