Blue Jays’ Kikuchi bounces back in dominant spring outing as Blue Jays blank Twins
If Yusei Kikuchi‘s final spring outing raised any issues for the left-hander, he put them to mattress along with his five-inning efficiency within the Toronto Blue Jays‘ 3-0 win over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.
After beginning the spring with 11.2 scoreless innings, Kikuchi walked three and allowed two runs over 3.1 final Friday in a loss towards the Philadelphia Phillies.
But his bounce-back outing in Fort Myers, Fla. could have been the very best the 31-year-old has seemed in 2023.
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Kikuchi allowed solely 5 baserunners (three hits, one stroll and one hit batter) whereas hanging out 9. He additionally labored his pitch rely as much as a spring-high 87 — 57 of them touchdown for strikes — and didn’t quit a run in a 3-0 win.
Three of his strikeouts got here towards Twins stars Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton, with Kikuchi punching out the latter with a fastball to finish the fifth inning.
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He obtained 17 whiffs on the afternoon, constructing on the encouraging outcomes he’d gotten by his first 5 outings.
The lefty lowered his spring earned-run common from 1.38 to 1.00. He is 2-1 with 25 strikeouts over 18 innings in six pre-season begins.
Kikuchi got here into the season on the heels of a mediocre debut season with the Jays with a 6-7 document and 5.19 ERA.
He has made a robust case to hitch ace Alek Manoah, Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios and newcomer Chris Bassitt in a powerful rotation.
Four Jays relievers mixed to permit only one hit and one stroll over the sport’s remaining 4 innings. Nate Pearson picked up the save.
Toronto took a 2-0 lead within the third inning on RBI singles from Spencer Horwitz and Orelvis Martinez.
Horwitz capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly within the fifth.
Minnesota starter Tyler Mahle allowed all three Jays runs in selecting up the loss.
Toronto (16-11) faces Philadelphia on Friday at Dunedin, Fla.
With recordsdata from Sportsnet.
