KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Angels fans who had regained some faith in Yusei Kikuchi after last weekend’s encouraging start could only watch with frustration as all of that was wiped away in one disturbing inning.
Kikuchi gave up five runs in the fourth inning of the Angels’ 6-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.
Kikuchi didn’t even give up a hit in any of his other four innings, but the damage had been done. His ERA now sits at 6.21 after six starts.
While the Angels’ young starters, led by José Soriano, are giving them hope, the 34-year-old Kikuchi has not lived up to his $21 million annual salary.
“I feel like my stuff is coming back,” Kikuchi said through his interpreter. “If I keep on pitching like the first few innings, I think my results are going to come back at some point. Obviously, there is something I have to work on, one notably is the pitch sequence, but overall, I just have to stay consistent and I think the results will come out along at some point.”
On Saturday, Kikuchi pitched six scoreless innings against the Padres, later explaining that he had lowered his arm angle after using a higher release point in his first four starts. Besides being more effective, he also had slightly higher velocity in that game.
Kikuchi said the initial higher arm angle he was using was an overcorrection from last season.
“Last year, I feel like my arm angle lowered too much,” Kikuchi said. “So I tried to bring it back to the original neutral position, but I feel like that went too much and I struggled bringing that back down in the first few starts of the season.”
Kikuchi showed the same improvements in the first three innings of Friday’s game as he did against the Padres. He retired nine of 10 batters, working around one walk.
Then it all fell apart.
In the fourth, Kikuchi got ahead of Royals start shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., but then he fouled off three two-strike pitches before punching a double into the gap in left center.
Witt ended up scoring on a weird play. Right fielder Jo Adell got a late break on a blooper and he couldn’t make the catch, but the Angels still got a force at second on the play because Starling Marte was staying close to bag in case Adell caught it.
Still, that was the second out, and Kikuchi was one pitch from escaping the inning with minimal damage.
Instead, he gave up four straight hits to the bottom four hitters of the Kansas City order, driving in four more runs to blow the game open.
“I felt really good starting the game,” Kikuchi said. “It comes down to the fourth inning. I think it might be because of pitch sequence. The fourth inning cost the game.”
Manager Kurt Suzuki said he’s still optimistic that Kikuchi can figure it out.
“It’s a long season,” Suzuki said. “He’s had five or six starts, and he’s showing some improvement. Just one inning got him tonight. Other than that, I thought his stuff was as good as it’s been all year. Just ran into that one inning, with two outs they scored (four) runs.”
The Angels (12-15) at least made it interesting after that, thanks to the production from the bottom of the order.
Vaughn Grissom (two doubles), Logan O’Hoppe (a single and a walk) and Bryce Teodosio (two singles) each had good nights, and all three of them reached base in a two-out rally in the seventh.
Zach Neto blooped a single into center to drive in one, and then Mike Trout walked to push home another. Adell drove in the third with a grounder. A Jorge Soler loaded the bases, putting the tying run in scoring position.
Suzuki then sent Yoan Moncada up to pinch-hit for Oswald Peraza, even though the Royals had left-hander Daniel Lynch IV throwing in the bullpen. Moncada was 1 for 18 with 10 strikeouts on the season against lefties.
The Royals brought in Lynch, and Moncada struck out.
“Hindsight 20/20, I wouldn’t have probably brought him in if we knew they were going to (bring Lynch in),” Suzuki said.
He said he didn’t think Lynch had been warming up for long enough to come into the game. He said he though Lynch was warming up to face Nolan Schanuel, who was due up after Peraza.
“We didn’t think he was ready and we thought he was getting ready for Shanny,” Suzuki said. “He popped him in early. Moncada’s a switch hitter. He can hit right-handed. I know he struggles right-handed, but the guy’s a major league baseball player, so it’s not like I think he’s an automatic out. He still has a chance.”