Kikuchi takes first loss of '23 to 'tough' O's lineup

TORONTO -- Yusei Kikuchi hung his head and dusted his left hand on the rosin bag as the crowd at Rogers Centre groaned.

The Blue Jays starter was clearly upset with himself, especially after how hot he was to begin the season. The fateful third inning began innocently enough -- a single, then a groundout -- but, after a walk, it ended with an atomic three-run home run by Ryan Mountcastle, which handed the Orioles a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Friday night’s 6-2 loss to Baltimore illustrated the duality of Kikuchi’s brief Blue Jays career. On his best days, the left-hander is a vicious power pitcher, capable of blasting his fastball up in the zone and then spinning the slider to fool hitters. On his worst evenings, he’s his own worst enemy, prone to hard contact and command implosions.

Overall, though, Kikuchi’s been much better in 2023. In Spring Training, Blue Jays manager John Schneider noticed some new swagger from his fifth starter that carried through Kikuchi’s first eight starts.

Several factors were working for Kikuchi ahead of this matchup versus the Orioles, including his 5-0 record on the season, his 3.89 ERA and his minuscule 4.6% walk rate.

But outings like Friday -- where Kikuchi allowed three runs and four free passes through 4 2/3 innings -- serve as a sobering reminder there’s still some work to do.

"Command eluded him a little bit today with the four walks," Schneider said. "And, like I said, it's a tough lineup to navigate for a left-hander."

The Blue Jays' skipper isn’t wrong. As a club, Baltimore entered Friday fifth in baseball with an .803 team OPS against southpaws. That looming power threat never allowed Kikuchi to get comfortable, leading to Mountcastle's fourth career homer off Kikuchi in a clutch spot.

"I don’t think that pitch was in a bad spot," Kikuchi said, through a team interpreter, of the three-run homer. "But my breaking balls weren’t going in for strikes, so it was easier to zero in on the fastball."

That self-assessment proved quite accurate. Kikuchi earned just five called strikes on 27 breaking balls, often dancing around the zone instead of landing his pitches on the plate. For fans watching the Blue Jays from the stands or at home on TV, Kikuchi’s command flare-ups are maddening. How can a guy with such electric stuff not be able to attack hitters better?

"I think it’s intimidating to throw strikes," said Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman. "I'm a prime example. When I was young in my career, when I started getting hit around, I got scared. I’d start walking guys and then get in bad counts where you have to throw a strike."

Sometimes, the fear of getting lit up forces pitchers out of their own skin. Gausman saw it last year when Kikuchi didn’t believe in himself enough, but that lack of self-belief seemed to be remedied through the lefty’s first chunk of starts in 2023.

"Visibly, you can just see how confident he is," Gausman said. "And he believes that he can get anybody out and strike anybody out with any one of his pitches."

With that in mind, one bad outing isn’t about to derail all the progress he’s made this year.

"It's tough to put things together based on my outing today, but they're a tough lineup over there -- I know that -- and I’ll reset for next time," Kikuchi said.

Subtract the walks from this outing, and it would’ve been more manageable. Baltimore managed just three hits off Toronto’s starter, but Kikuchi wasn’t pounding the zone enough, forcing Schneider to yank him in the fifth after 81 pitches.

And, during a stretch where Toronto’s offense has been short on big rallies, that early deficit felt extra heavy. The Blue Jays did work a little magic in the eighth inning, though, breaking through for a run against elite Orioles setup man Yennier Cano. In fact, Bo Bichette’s RBI groundout was Cano's first run allowed all season (18 appearances, 22 2/3 innings).

Schneider praised his club’s last-ditch effort against Cano and then closer Félix Bautista, but wished his club could’ve polished off the comeback.

"The at-bats, they're good," Schneider said. "You still need to kind of finish them off and you’ve got to have that big hit."

In the end, the hole was just too deep, and the Blue Jays relievers didn’t do a great job limiting the damage. Tasked with covering 4 1/3 innings, Toronto’s bullpen allowed three more runs, capped off by a game-sealing Adam Frazier blast in the ninth.

With four losses in its last five games, Toronto will look to manufacture some better luck on the mound and with the bats Saturday when Alek Manoah takes the hill.

"I think that they want it badly," Schneider said, suggesting his squad is close to a breakout. "So it's just a matter of it happening. And [I] trust the guys in the clubhouse that it's going to turn around."