TORONTO – Nothing happened for left-hander Yusei Kikuchi in the bottom of the sixth inning Saturday in what might have been his final appearance for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Kikuchi struck out six and allowed just one run in five innings, but he couldn’t get anyone out, and the Detroit Tigers won 7-3 in front of 38,585 at Rogers Centre.
Kikuchi allowed a single to Matt Bieling, walked Mark Caña and then hit a single to Wencil Perez to load the bases with no outs.
Kikuchi gave up his spot to reliever Trevor Richards, who hit a 391-foot grand slam into the left-field seats off catcher Jake Rogers.
“I lost my momentum,” Kikuchi, 33, said. “I didn’t want to give up the second run and I felt pressured to throw strikes.”
Kikuchi (4-9) is in the final season of a three-year contract he signed to come to Toronto. He is a player the Blue Jays (44-54) are likely to move before the July 30 trade deadline.
“It’s deep in my heart,” the Japan starter said. “But it’s something you can’t control. You don’t know what’s going to happen. I love our team, the city, and all the fans here.”
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Rogers’ third grand slam capped a six-inning performance for Detroit (49-50), which has won 10 of its last 12 games.
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“We’re having a great time right now and we need to keep it that way,” Rogers said.
Vladimir Guerrero went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer that contributed to Toronto’s three runs in the sixth.
Trailing 7-0, Kevin Kiermaier hit a one-out double down the left-field line and scored on George Springer’s single. Guerrero hit his 16th home run, straight away to center, against reliever Kenta Maeda with two outs. It was Guerrero’s second long ball of the series.
After allowing back-to-back hits with two outs in the first inning, Kikuchi calmly retired 12 of the next 13 Tigers players before allowing a single to center field by Alex Villard with two outs in the fifth.
Villade hit a double down the left-field line off Andy Ibanez to drive in. Toronto’s Dalton Barcho missed the hit and made an error, allowing the slow Villade to score and Ibanez to stay on third.
Kikuchi ended his day by throwing his 94th pitch to load the bases.
“He came back strong, but he lost control at the end with the walks and pitches,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “His pitch count was up, but I thought he did a really, really good job.”
Richards retired only one of the six batters he faced. Ibanez singled home off Javier Baez while Richards was on the mound to increase the Tigers’ lead to 6-0.
Detroit allowed 11 batters to bat in the sixth, scoring its last run on a wild pitch by reliever Brendan Little.
Detroit starter Reese Olson left the game after two innings of 30 pitches with right shoulder soreness. He allowed a single to Guerrero and two walks, but was saved by a double play to end each inning.
Tigers manager AJ Hinch used a series of relief pitchers to maintain the shutout. Alex Paedo (5-1), Maeda and Tyler Holton each pitched two innings, and Shelby Miller closed the ninth.
Broken Bow
The Blue Jays placed Bo Bichette on the 10-day injured list after he suffered a right calf strain in the first game of a series against Detroit and is expected to be out for more than 10 days.
“It’s a moderate calf strain,” Schneider said. “All we know right now is he’s going to be out for a couple of weeks. We’ll know more as time goes on.”
Bichette missed the final four games before the MLB All-Star break and was sidelined for 10 days with the same injury in late June.
Toronto called up infielder/outfielder Addison Barger from Triple-A Buffalo to replace Bichette.
On deck
Kevin Gausman (7-8) will start for the Blue Jays in Sunday’s series finale. The Tigers will counter with right-hander Keider Montero (1-2).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 20, 2024.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
