Mariners: 4 takeaways from impressive road series win in Minnesota

1) Yusei Kikuchi continues to impress

With Gonzales struggling and Paxton out long-term, the Mariners desperately need reliability from other members of the rotation. Step forward Yusei Kikuchi.

Kikuchi had given plenty of reason for optimism during his first start of the season, that this might be the season he lived up to the hype. During six innings he equaled his career-high with 10 strikeouts and essentially had his outing ruined by just one pitch.

Understandably though, the question of consistency remained heading into the southpaw’s second start of the season on Saturday. Fortunately for Seattle, he came up with a positive response at Target Field.

Kikuchi again reached the six innings limit manager Scott Servais ideally asks of all his starters. And the results were encouraging, as he allowed just five hits and two earned runs, while notching up six strikeouts.

The 29-year-old wasn’t quite as sharp as his first outing, struggling at times with his command. He allowed two walks, with 58 of his 94 pitches going for strikes. (He had 67 strikes in 89 pitches during his previous start.)

Overall though, Kikuchi had a good outing. The fact he was able to work through a couple of tough situations, including in the fourth inning, alluded to his experience and ability not to panic.

One aspect which appears to be helping with the Japan native’s early-season form, is Servais giving him the green light to attack more. Speaking to the media through a translator after the game, he said:

“I just went in with the aggressive mindset and just trusted my stuff. I thought I was able to do that from the beginning of the game until the very end, so I was very happy with that.”

As a knock-on effect, this has helped Kikuchi grow in confidence, even against a strong offense such as the Twins. He said:

“I was really looking forward to being able to pitch against this loaded lineup, right-handed hitting lineup here. I was just really looking forward to seeing how to attack each hitter and attack this lineup and I think overall I’m really happy with where I’m at.”

No doubt the Mariners are also happy with where Kikucho is at right now. They can only hope his good form continues, especially with the rest of the starting rotation looking shaky at this stage.

NEXT: OTHER NOTABLE HIGHLIGHTS