Yusei Kikuchi allowed one earned run over four innings while striking out five in a no-decision against the Nationals on Friday.
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.
