Yusei Kikuchi shuts out Pirates over six in victory

Kikuchi fell to 1-6 with a 5.02 ERA. He had a 6.4 percent walk rate between 2023 and ’24, but he’s up to 9.9 percent in his two seasons with the Angels. He’s due to face the A’s on Tuesday and then could make another start against the Mariners in Game 162.

Kikuchi kept the Nationals off the board for the first three innings, striking out four before allowing an RBI single to James Wood with two outs in the fourth inning. Kikuchi would make it out of the inning but would not return to pitch in the fifth after already being up to 88 pitches. It was the shortest outing for Kikuchi since he pitched two innings against the White Sox back in April. If not for his four walks, which tied a season-high, Kikuchi may have had enough left to go one more inning, but he did a nice job of limiting runs despite some control issues. Kikuchi has allowed just three earned runs in his last 19 innings of work and will look to continue his solid stretch in his next start, which is scheduled for Wednesday against the Mariners.

Kikuchi pitched well, but Zack Wheeler pitched better, so Kikuchi is now 0-5 on the season. The 35-year-old gave up a pair of solo homers, and unfortunately for the southpaw and the Angels, that was enough to prevent the victory. Kikuchi will hope to get some run support and pitch at a similar level against the Pirates in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Kikuchi, who had been out since the end of April with shoulder inflammation, gave up eight runs in his last rehab start, so this was an improvement. Ezequiel Duran and Elias Díaz homered for two of the 11 hard-hit balls he gave up. Kikuchi is 0-4 with a 6.30 ERA this season. He’ll probably make his next start next Sunday against the Phillies.

Kikuchi will make his long-awaited return to the Angels’ rotation on Sunday afternoon against the Rangers. The 35-year-old southpaw had been shelved since the end of April due to inflammation in his pitching shoulder. Fantasy managers should take a wait-and-see approach here instead of throwing him right back to the wolves on Sunday.

The 35-year-old southpaw struck out eight batters in the contest while issuing a pair of walks. Seven of those eight runs came during the first inning, after which he settled in nicely. He threw 80 pitches (56 strikes) in the ballgame, so physically he’s probably ready to rejoin the Angels’ rotation over the weekend unless they want to see him have success in a minor league setting first.

Dodgers prospect James Tibbs III homered for one of the six hits off Kikuchi. He got up to 69 pitches tonight. opening up the possibility that he could rejoin the Angels rotation next weekend. He has been out since Apr. 30 with shoulder inflammation.

Kikuchi struck out four but walked five and threw 30 of his 57 pitches for strikes. His four-seamer touched 96.5 mph but was mainly around 94 mph, which is not far off from what we see when he’s 100 percent. The command was obviously rusty in this one, and we’d expect him to make at least two more rehab starts with the Angels having no incentive to rush him back to the big leagues this season.

Kikuchi is at least a couple weeks away from returning to Los Angeles since he’ll need to build up his pitch count and stamina over a couple rehab starts. The 35-year-old southpaw is working his way back from shoulder inflammation that put him to the injured list back in early May. He opted for the rest-and-rehabilitation route instead of season-ending surgery and should make it back to the Angels’ rotation in mid-to-late August.

Kikuchi should be ready to head out on a minor league rehab assignment fairly soon. The 35-year-old southpaw has been working his way back from shoulder inflammation that sent him to the injured list back in early May. He opted for the rest-and-rehabilitation route instead of season-ending surgery. There’s a chance he’s back at some point in mid-to-late August.