Japanese left-handed fireballer Yusei Kikuchi (32) of the Toronto Blue Jays showed a KKKKKKKK show and even won the victory with a good pitching without a loss.
On the 27th (Korean time), Kikuchi took the mound as a starting pitcher in the 2023 Major League Baseball home game against the Chicago White Sox held at the Rogers Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 메이저놀이터
The result was 5⅔ innings, 4 hits and no runs. He allowed only one walk and struck out eight. Truly flawless pitch. He threw 89 pitches, 60 of which were strikes. His best speed was taken up to 96 miles (154 km).
Toronto won 8-0 with Kikuchi’s perfect pitching and recorded a season record of 16-9. Kikuchi picked up his 4th win of the season. Kikuchi, who has been very active this season with 4 wins and an ERA of 3.00, is expected to perform better than last year, which was his first season after joining Toronto. His last year saw him go 6-7 with a 5.19 earned run average and fell short of expectations.
Kikuchi got off to a good start in the first inning, striking out Elvis Andrews and Andrew Bourne in succession. In addition, he got a right-handed hit by Louis Robert Jr., but added the luck that Robert Jr., who was heading to second base, was tagged out, and was able to finish the first inning without a run. Kikuchi, who ended the inning by striking out lead hitter Elroy Jimenez in the top of the 2nd inning and making a tripartite, was hit by Romi Gonzalez after 2 outs in the top of the 3rd inning, but struck out Andrews on a swinging miss and continued the scoreless streak.
For Kikuchi, the biggest crisis of the day came in the top of the 5th inning. Leading batter Andrew Benintendi got a right-handed hit and Sevi Zavala allowed a walk, putting him in danger with one out and 1st and 2nd base. However, Kikuchi showed off his crisis management skills by catching Lenin Sosa with a fly ball in right field and striking out Gonzalez.
In the end, I couldn’t fill 6 innings. Kikuchi, who was hit with a right-handed hit by Vaughn after one out and committed a wild throw, was driven to a crisis with one out and second base. After striking out Robert Jr., he was replaced by Eric Swanson. It was when Toronto took a 4-0 lead.
Kikuchi signed a free agent contract with Toronto ahead of last season for 3 years and 36 million dollars (approximately 48.2 billion won). If the same performance continues this season, it seems that Toronto will not waste any ransom of 36 million dollars.