Kikuchi 'committed to having success' in '23

KANSAS CITY -- New year, new Yusei.

With the Blue Jays’ rotation stumbling through its first turn, Yusei Kikuchi was the unlikely stopper in a 4-1 win over the Royals on Tuesday. Kikuchi’s numbers were there, throwing five innings of one-run ball, but the eye test and the context matter more.

Kikuchi buzzed with energy on the mound, bookending his start with enthusiastic fist pumps on the first and final outs. The Japanese lefty took 2022 to heart, his 5.19 ERA and frustrating inconsistencies often showing on his face after starts. Tuesday’s version of Kikuchi, though, is what a fresh start looks like. There are miles to go and far greater challenges than the Royals awaiting him, but Kikuchi has life.

For now, that’s a start.

Postgame, the party was on. Kikuchi’s teammates have supported him, even through the roughest patches of 2022, and they were just as eager to celebrate his success.

“It’s awesome, and you saw it from Day 1 last year. It starts with him as a person,” said manager John Schneider, “really going out of his way to be one of the guys. There’s an obvious language barrier, which he’s kind of tackled a little bit. He’s a really likable dude. You guys aren’t privy to everything in the clubhouse and on the plane. He’s a likable guy. When you put that with the work he did, it’s really easy to pull for him.”

His timing couldn’t be better, either. Even though it’s early, the Blue Jays’ rotation had posted a 10.80 ERA through its first four starts, with only Kevin Gausman looking like his usual self. Alek Manoah and Chris Bassitt deserve plenty of patience here, and while there’s reason for worry when it comes to José Berríos, the Blue Jays needed some good news. Come September, a contender doesn’t want to be looking back on missed opportunities against the Royals.

Coming off a Spring Training where Kikuchi racked up the strikeouts, those weren’t there on Tuesday. He struck out just two and needed a hand from his defense, but a line like this one works any day of the week from a No. 5 starter.

​​“This year, I prepared myself and committed to having success,” Kikuchi said through a club interpreter. “I worked harder this offseason to have a good start. To have a good start like this, it’s a really good thing.”

Even the Royals’ Matt Duffy, who went 3-for-3 and had Kikuchi’s number, walked away impressed.

“Other than the two mistakes on me, everything else was absolutely dotted based on what I was seeing,” Duffy said. “He had good stuff tonight. He can get erratic at times, and we had talked about that in the report, to try and put the pressure on him, but we really didn’t. We were on our heels from the start. He had really good stuff tonight.”

In 2022, the first frame was Kikuchi’s kryptonite. He had a 6.86 ERA in first innings, and worse, had more walks (22) than strikeouts (21). Too many of Kikuchi’s starts were clearly spinning sideways within the first 60 seconds. Those first innings tended to suck the air out of the building, too, which is why Tuesday night’s outing looked so much better, even if the numbers weren’t dominant.

A handful of Kikuchi’s fist pumps were saved for the plays made around him, too. The Blue Jays have prioritized defensive improvements, but Tuesday offered the clearest look yet.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made a diving snag to keep Kikuchi’s first inning clean, then Daulton Varsho delivered a dart to Danny Jansen at home in the second to double up the runner who had tagged for home. Kikuchi had the best seat in the house, but his teammates liked what they saw just as much.

“Everybody knows that he didn’t pitch as well as he would have liked to last year and he was very hard on himself,” said Matt Chapman, who continued his scorching start by going 3-for-4. “For him to be able to come out and have a strong first outing, and after we’d dropped three games in a row, to come out here and get us in the win column, it’s really good to see.”

Now comes the hard part. We saw flashes from Kikuchi throughout 2022, but two or three starts later, he’d hit turbulence again. This will be a battle of adjustments all year long, but Kikuchi has taken a fine first step away from ’22 and into ’23.