Yusei Kikuchi digs another hole for himself and Blue Jays in loss to Brew Crew
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Publishing date:
Jun 25, 2022 • 45 minutes ago • 4 minute read • Join the conversation 
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (16) reacts between batters in the second inning during game against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. USA Today Sports Article content
MILWAUKEE — Arms crossed and leaning over the rail of the visitors dugout, Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker had seen enough on Saturday afternoon.
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Make that early Saturday afternoon as it was only the second inning of the middle game of a weekend series against the Brewers.
To the dugout phone behind him Walker went to get Trent Thornton throwing in the bullpen. Yusei Kikuchi’s day wasn’t done yet, but it could have been.
And the question now for Walker, manager Charlie Montoyo and, more importantly, the Jays front office: How much more of this can the team take?
Kikuchi was putrid yet again on Saturday, giving up five runs in two innings as the Jays fought back gamely only to fall 5-4 to the Brewers at American Family Field. His spot in the rotation is fast becoming a throwaway, a hope and a prayer outing that the offence will do enough scoring to mitigate his likely damage.
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“I’m not going to sit here and make excuses for him,” Montoyo said afterwards, a veritable indictment given the manager tends to mute criticism of his own players. “He hasn’t pitched well and he put us in a tough spot today.”
It wasn’t the Japanese lefty’s shortest outing of the season, it just felt like it.
And it was apparent well before he threw his 69th and final pitch of the afternoon — which resulted in a Mike Brosseau solo home run to open the third inning — that it was another day where the strike zone would be foreign territory.
The final score was both flattering and testament to the Jays resilience, especially given they were facing Brewers ace Corbin Burnes.
But it was another poor outing from Kikuchi, a pitcher who admits he’s lost at the moment and trying to find his way.
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“I’ve struggled the last few outings, mostly with command, falling behind in the count,” Kikuchi said through a team translator. “Pitches when I try to get back into the count are the ones that are getting hit hard. Same thing today, unfortunately.”
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So what now?
At this point, Kikuchi looks like the perfect candidate for a mystery injury list — perhaps a neck strain from watching that Brosseau bomb soar over his head.
We jest — sort of — but it’s very near the point where they can’t trust sending Kikuchi out every five days, especially with an overworked bullpen already has its own issues.
They can’t demote him and certainly releasing him would be a massive price to pay, given he’s in the first year of a three-year, $36-million US contract and given that the coaches still believe there is something to extract from a lefty who can throw a 97 mph fastball.
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They could relegate him to the bullpen to work on getting things sorted out, but the options to replace him in the rotation aren’t exactly bountiful.
Let’s be honest: The state of the Jays pitching staff right is far more dire than most could have predicted at the start of the season. Kikuchi was always going to be a project, but all the work between starts to hone in his command hasn’t sharpened him.
He hasn’t been able to pitch into the fifth inning in each of his past four starts.
Meanwhile, he’s not necessarily an answer for any of the Jays woes, but Max Castillo showed a little something to the team’s braintrust. In four innings of shutout work, Castillo allowed just one hit while striking out seven and at least opening the possibility of a Jays comeback.
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“That was a good impression what he did today,” Montoyo said of Castillo. “People have to show you that they can pitch at this level and that’s what he did.”
Castillo is surely going to get some more action, but Saturday was only his second big league appearance, so he’s not the answer just yet.
And until there is one, Kikuchi time will be an adventure.
GAME ON
Kikuchi laboured from the outset, despite retiring two of the first three Brewers batters he faced. It took him 50 pitches to get through the first inning that included a mound visit from Walker and Thornton getting up to work in the pen … The starter’s efforts weren’t exactly helped along in the second when Keston Hiura reached because of a throwing error to first by shortstop Bo Bichette. Kikuchi’s stuff was a still awful, but it allowed the three runs the Brewers scored in the inning — including a pair on an Andrew McCutchen homer – to go unearned … Burnes, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner went 7.2 innings, allowing five hits and three runs while striking out nine … The Jays got on the board with a pair of runs in the fifth, the most impressive being Matt Chapman’s solo home run, his 10th of the season … When Bichette did the same in the eighth (his 12th) the Jays pulled to within two runs and they got to within one on a Chapman double followed by a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. single in the ninth.
AROUND THE BASES
The Jays were without George Springer (elbow) for a third consecutive game. Springer continues to take batting practice and would have pinch hit in the ninth if Gabby Moreno hadn’t ground out to end the game … Catcher Alejandro Kirk, meanwhile, was none the worse for wear after taking a bat to the hand on Friday and was in the lineup as designated hitter.
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