'Another level': Kikuchi keeps rolling with 12 K's in latest gem

HOUSTON -- On his 101st pitch of the night, Yusei Kikuchi kicked and fired a 95 mph four-seam fastball on the inside corner to register his 12th and final strikeout of the game.

Kikuchi pumped his fist in excitement as Garrett Hampson went down looking on strikes to end the seventh inning. It capped Kikuchi’s latest gem in an Astros uniform to lead Houston to a 5-2 victory over Kansas City at Minute Maid Park on Saturday night.

“Yusei Kikuchi, how good was he?” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Our starting pitching has been phenomenal here for a while. Kikuchi adds another level of quality of starts.”

The Royals never got anything going against Kikuchi.

A bloop double down the right-field line by Hampson in the third ended a streak of seven straight batters retired to start the game by Kikuchi. He only surrendered three more singles the rest of the night. None of those runners reached third base.

"I don't think it's just deceptiveness. I think [Kikuchi] has got good stuff,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “He’s throwing mid-to-upper 90s, with good movement on his fastball and slider. We knew that he was going to be tough. He's been on a good run. These guys have all been throwing the ball really well, and we knew it was going to be tough to score."

What the Royals got a heavy dose of on Saturday night, which was Kikuchi’s four-seam fastball and slider combination that produced 17 of his 20 whiffs, was what the Astros were hoping to get when they traded for the 33-year-old southpaw.

When Kikuchi was acquired from the Blue Jays at this year's Deadline, a lot of the excitement around him was that he had a good arm, struck out a lot of batters and didn’t walk many.

In his six starts since arriving in Houston, Kikuchi has gone 3-0 with a 2.57 ERA and 47 strikeouts to just 10 walks. The Astros have won all six starts.

“Credit to him. He’s gotten here and he recognized the stage he is on,” Espada said. “Why we traded for him. And he wants to be on the mound. He wants these big moments.”

Prior to joining the Astros, Kikuchi had just one double-digit strikeout performance to his name this season. He had also not won a start since June 11.

“The coaching staff here, they wanted to use what I already had and just make adjustments based off that,” Kikuchi said through a translator. “Whether that is the pitch mix or location of different pitches, just hearing what they had to say and suggest has been paying dividends.”

Espada added: “We are really good at developing pitching. Giving them tools to be better. We sit down with them. We work with the weapons that he has. We have done this for a very long time."

The Astros have implemented a six-man rotation at the moment to help their starting pitchers get extra rest in between their starts.

It has been during this time that Espada has seen the work that Kikuchi puts in every day, leaving no doubt in his mind why the results are the way they are with Kikuchi on the mound every sixth day.

“You see him work in between starts,” Espada said. “His regimen, how focused he is and how he pays attention to details to get ready for every start. I’m not surprised at all that he’s having this much success.”