Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi throws to the Cincinnati Reds during interleague baseball action in Toronto on May 22.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Yusei Kikuchi is a bounce-back guy, if this Blue Jays homestand is any indication.
On Sunday, the Japanese left-hander had a disastrous first inning. The Jays went on to lose 3-2 to the Cincinnati Reds in a matinee that dragged on for 3 hours 17 minutes and called six pitchers out of Toronto’s bullpen.
But a silver lining: Kikuchi rebounded after that painful inning with a stoic performance. It’s the second time in a week that he powered through some adversity – more evidence of work done with Jays pitching coach Pete Walker to tweak his delivery and bolster confidence in his fastball.
Kikuchi walked three of his first four batters Sunday, prompting a mound visit from Walker before the game was 15 minutes old. Then, the 30-year-old allowed a two-run double and dinged a batter with a 94-mile-an-hour four-seam fastball. It took Kikuchi 37 pitches to escape the first inning.
“He didn’t panic,” said Jays manager Charlie Montoyo. “He could have lost it … but he did a great job staying even keel.”
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Kikuchi, carrying his signature yellow glove, bounced back in the second inning looking like himself. He retired the next nine batters he faced, holding off the Reds. He’d thrown lots of pitches early, so his outing finished after 4 1/3 innings and 86 pitches. He had seven strikeouts and allowed two hits and three walks.
“I couldn’t get into a good rhythm with good tempo,” Kikuchi said about the first inning – talking first to Toronto media through his translators, and then in his own language to a handful of Japanese reporters who cover all his starts.
Kikuchi said a chat with Walker after the first helped. “He said just go back out there, nice and easy.”
Kikuchi had shown resilience earlier in the homestand, too, when he allowed one hit in six innings last Monday and beat Seattle, his former team. He had a no-hitter going into the fifth, struck out six and walked three. That one hit – a double by Jesse Winker in the fifth – began a bumpy stretch. It was the kind of situation that sometimes saw him unravel as a Mariner, but he pitched out of that one.
Kikuchi pitched his way to a 2021 all-star nod. He lost his dazzle in the second half that season.
When Kikuchi became a Blue Jay in March, Walker was excited to work with an athletic lefty with a nice fastball – one he often throws at 95 mph.
“He seemed to shy away from his fastball a little bit. He didn’t realize how good it is,” Walker said before Sunday’s game, speaking about those early days. “He felt like that cutter, the breaking ball, kept him out of trouble and was his go-to pitch at times. He didn’t have all the confidence that he should have had in that fastball. It was evident in his pitch selection.”
Kikuchi had a pause while lifting his leg during his pitch delivery, and Walker helped smooth that out to give him more command. He uses the fastball more. Toronto has also tried to get him throwing a bigger cutter, such as the one Robbie Ray used last year during his AL Cy Young Award season as a Blue Jay.
“Honestly, coming to Toronto, I wasn’t planning on or expecting to make these in-season changes,” said Kikuchi, who hails from Morioka, in northern Japan. “But getting new input from, you know, a new set of eyes has been … great.”
Kikuchi has eight starts under his belt as a Blue Jay. Walker calls the six-footer one of the best athletes on the team – from his flexibility to his quickness in fielding. Walker isn’t surprised that Kikuchi had a multi-sport background as a boy – gymnastics, volleyball and swimming.
His routine is a little different than the other Jays’ pitchers. Walker says his bullpen sessions are longer, he doesn’t lift free weights as frequently and he works a lot with a deep-tissue massage therapist.
Kikuchi is rarely seen at the ballpark without his translator, Kevin Ando. This is their fourth season working together, year-round, anywhere Kikuchi is playing or training. Ando’s family is Japanese, but he grew up in California, and played baseball in Huntington Beach. The friendly translator calls this his “first real job” out of school and uses both his baseball and language skills. He helps with everything from fielding drills to playing catch and interpreting interviews, meetings and in-game visits to the pitcher’s mound. While Ando is always there, Kikuchi diligently works at his English.
“I always make sure to have a book with me whenever we travel, and I watch movies in English with subtitles,” Kikuchi said, through Ando. “But I do believe the most important thing is to not shy away from trying to communicate with my teammates.”
Kikuchi leaves the game during the fifth inning at Rogers Centre on May 22.Kevin Sousa/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
Kikuchi’s locker is strategically right beside catcher Danny Jansen’s in the Blue Jays’ clubhouse. He says making casual conversation with Jansen is a great way to practise his English.
“It’s just cool to see to see him out there, attacking hitters with his fastball, especially,” Jansen said earlier in this series. “He’s got one of the hardest fastballs – it’s got real nice life and jump on it.”
Kikuchi’s family is with him in Toronto – his wife and his son, who is nearly three and already likes baseball.
“He comes to the stadium almost every day,” Kikuchi said.