ANAHEIM — In the days leading up to his start against the Reds in their series finale on Wednesday, Yusei Kikuchi went around the clubhouse asking some of the Angels’ hitters what they had seen from Cincinnati in the first two games.
His due diligence paid off as Kikuchi returned to form on Wednesday after back-to-back rough outings, going seven innings and holding the Reds to one run as the Angels avoided the sweep with a 2-1 win at Angel Stadium.
Kikuchi also made history with his first-inning strikeout of Elly De La Cruz. It was the 987th of his career, moving him into sole possession of fifth place on the all-time strikeout list by a Japanese-born player trailing only Masahiro Tanaka, Kenta Maeda, Hideo Nomo and Yu Darvish.
“To be honest, I had no idea about that,” Kikuchi said through interpreter Yusuke Oshima. “Obviously I’m happy about it. I look up to those people that were here before me. But for myself personally, I just want to stay healthy and continue pitching in the rotation for as long as possible.”
It took just 88 pitches for Kikuchi to get through seven full innings. The 34-year-old left-hander allowed a run after giving up a leadoff double to Ke’Bryan Hayes, followed by an RBI single from Noelvi Marte in the third, but pitched a clean sheet around that.
“He was more efficient,” interim Angels manager Ray Montgomery said. “Threw the ball in the strike zone the majority of the time. He threw it where he wanted it. He kept them off balance.”
Kikuchi worked his way out of traffic in almost every inning, holding the Reds offense at bay — despite their seven hits — with four strikeouts and no walks, which helped the Halos get their first win over the Reds since 2019, breaking a 10-game losing streak to them.
“Just got to regroup at that point,” Kikuchi said. “The biggest focus is just not giving up any big hits there, like the home run ball or doubles. As soon as you get two strikes, just thinking about putting the hitters away. So just playing with that mindset with runners on base, I was able to get them out.”
Kikuchi was able to keep the Reds batters off balance with a mix of his pitches. He’s been making tweaks to his slider grip and delivery throughout the season, and the result was a lower velocity on both his slider and changeup, while he relied heavily on his curveball — which he threw 37 times and drew the majority of whiffs from.
Mixing his offspeed pitches also allowed Kikuchi to go to his fastball often. He was locating it well, with nine called strikes from his heater.
“It’s cool to see him execute his pitches and go late in the game like that,” Zach Neto said. “We needed it.”
It was a much-needed bounce-back game for Kikuchi, who gave up four earned runs on a pair of home runs in four innings to the Athletics last Friday, and had allowed eight earned runs on 13 hits and five walks in his previous two starts combined entering Wednesday.
Kikuchi was able to find the adjustments that got him back on track, but he mentioned that to stay on track he’ll need to keep making more adjustments as the Angels head into the final stretch of the regular season. It’s all part of the game.
“There’s going to be more data, other teams are going to adjust to me as well,” he said. “It’s a continuous chess match. Just have to see how the game goes and make adjustments.”
