After a series of bad starts, Yusei Kikuchi bounced back on Thursday. The much-needed strong outing led the Toronto Blue Jays to a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in the opener of a five-game series. (bnicholsonsmith)
After five June starts, the left-hander’s ERA was 9.39 for the month and he was averaging just over three innings per start, so it was without much optimism that the Blue Jays gave him the ball on Thursday. Earlier in the week, manager Charlie Montoyo acknowledged the chance that Kikuchi wouldn’t even take his scheduled turn in the rotation, but with five games in 72 hours against theand their next day off a week and a half away, the Blue Jays needed all the arms they could get.
Teoscar Hernandez and Santiago Espinal homered Thursday, the first of five games between the AL East rivals, while Matt Chapman displayed some phenomenal defence at third base. But it was Kikuchi whose performance was most significant. Entering play Thursday, just one American League pitcher had walked more hitters, but the left-hander challenged Tampa Bay’s hitters this time, issuing only one free pass.
Of course it will take more than one good start for Kikuchi to rediscover the form he showed in May, when he posted a 2.36 ERA over the course of five starts. This was his first outing of at least five innings since May 28, and he has only completed six innings three times all year. But Kikuchi’s stuff remains lively and when he’s consistently in the strike zone he can keep good teams off the scoreboard, as he showed Thursday night. Considering the volume of work that’s necessary for the bullpen this weekend, those six innings are sure to have a team-wide impact as the series unfolds.
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