Mariners: 5 takeaways from tough series versus Houston Astros

2) Kikuchi brings his A game

It’s fair to say Yusei Kikuchi was disappointing during his first two seasons with the Mariners. As such, there was a hope rather than expectation this would finally be the year he lived up to his talent level.

Kikuchi offered glimpses during his first four starts of 2021, to provide genuine optimism he was finally ready to take his game to the next level. And it all came together on Thursday, in arguably his best outing as a Seattle Mariner.

The 29-year-old was quite simply sensational against the Astros, as he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. He would finally give up his only hit of the day with one out in the seventh.

When it was all said and done, Kikuchi had pitched 7.0 innings and given up just two walks to go with the solitary hit in his first win of the campaign. He also notched a season-best seven strikeouts and tied a career-high by generating 10 ground balls.

The Japan native’s cutter was especially effective on the day, as it resulted in a combined 21 strikes and swinging strikes. He discussed his performance with the media following the game through his translator:

“I was able to go inside hard with my cutter, and go soft and away with my changeup. That played really well today. Controlling the height, as well, on all of my pitches.”

Servais was understandably delighted with Kikuchi’s play. Speaking to the media afterwards, the Mariners’ manager said:

“I can’t say enough about his competitiveness today. That’s what really stood out to me.

“Obviously, he had good stuff and an outstanding cutter, inducing all the ground balls and a ton of contact on the ground. It doesn’t get any bigger than that to shut that team down and take a no-hitter into the seventh against one of the better lineups in the American League.”

Despite the performance, there has still been too much inconsistency as a whole from the starting rotation so far this season. With Gonzales now out for at least two starts, Kikuchi acknowledged the need to improve:

“I think not just myself, but the entire staff, definitely needs to step up. We need to go out and go deep into ballgames; an extra inning, or even just an extra out. I think we need to have the entire staff all just step up and contribute until Marco comes back.”

Chris Flexen has been the Mariners’ best starting pitcher so far this season. We now wait to see if Thursday marks the beginning of something special from Kikuchi, at a time when the ball club especially need it.

NEXT: ABSENCE OF OFFENSE IN HOUSTON