It may well have been Yusei Kikuchi’s If it wasn’t, the next one had better be. The left-hander threw five brilliant innings Saturday afternoon at the Rogers Centre, allowing only a run on four hits to the Detroit Tigers while striking out eight against two walks. But he began the sixth trailing 1-0 and loaded the bases on a single, walk and hit batter before turning things over to Trevor Richards, who immediately gave up a grand slam to Jake Rogers — There were silver linings: in as many games, while relievers Yimi García and Erik Swanson each threw a perfect inning in their long-awaited returns to big-league action.
Kikuchi is next scheduled to take the mound on Friday night, when the Jays open a three-game home series against the defending champion Texas Rangers, but that’s four days before the July 30 trade deadline and “I don’t know what’s going to happen; it’s out of my control,” the 33-year-old Kikuchi said through translator Yusuke Oshima after the game, in which he fell to 4-9. “If this was the last, I just want to say that I love the team, love the city, love all the fans.” It’s been a while since the Jays had players giving farewell speeches in July.
From 2020 to 2023, they didn’t play a single regular-season game while eliminated from playoff contention — qualifying for the post-season three times and getting in 2021. That 2021 team appears to have been aside from the 2016 club they largely inherited. That the on-field product has got.