Japanese pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (33, Los Angeles Angels) failed to report his first win since moving to the team even in his 10th appearance of the season.
Kikuchi started the away game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB) at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California on the 19th (Korea time) and recorded three hits and one run in 5 2/3 innings.
He went down the mound in the sixth inning with two outs and no runners, with his team leading 4-1, and was ahead of his first win of the season, but the bullpen allowed a 4-4 tie in the seventh inning.
Kikuchi, who joined the Seattle Mariners in 2019, is a left-handed pitcher with 41 wins, 47 losses and an ERA of 4.57 in the big leagues until last year. He moved to the Angels in November last year in a three-year free agent contract worth 63 million dollars. 안전놀이터
However, he has not won a single game until 10 games since his transfer.
Kikuchi's earned run average for this season is 3.50, which is not bad. However, his luck is not matching. He has made five quality starts (more than six innings and three earned runs or fewer) this season. Coincidentally, the Angels immediately turned the game around with Travis d'Arnaud's solo home run in the top of the eighth inning after Kikuchi's requirement to win his first game of the season was eliminated. The Angels, who added one run in the ninth inning, won 6-4.
Kikuchi gave up four walks in the game, but avoided the crisis with three hits and seven strikeouts. The only run he lost was a timely hit to Shohei Ohtani with two outs and a runner on second in the bottom of the fifth inning with a 4-0 lead.
Kikuchi allowed two hits in three at-bats for the match against Ohtani, his junior in high school, to overcome his weakness. Both Ohtani and Kikuchi graduated from Hanamaki Higashi High School in Iwate Prefecture.