Mariners: 4 takeaways from series split with Los Angeles Angels

1) Mariners avoid disaster with Kikuchi

Yusei Kikuchi has been excellent so far in 2021 for the Mariners. While this might not be saying much compared to his first two seasons in Seattle, it should not take away from his impact for the ball club.

Kikuchi has eight quality starts so far this year, more than double anyone else on the team. Combined with a 3.92 ERA and 1.05 WHIP, he is finally showing the form which first persuaded the Mariners to sign him.

On Saturday night, the 29-year-old appeared well on his way to another quality start. Seattle was leading 5-2 after four innings and his command was excellent, with him issuing no walks for the first time this year.

Kikuchi was on fire, best evidenced by eight strikeouts. He seemed set to equal – if not surpass – his season-high of 11 strikeouts.

Unfortunately for a Mariners fan base which is so used to what followed, things quickly turned bad. Kikuchi was hit in the right knee by a comebacker from the Angels’ David Fletcher.

The Japan native fell to the ground, writhing in obvious pain. After what seemed like an eternity, he had to be helped off the field by team trainers.

As Kikuchi hobbled off, unable to put any weight on his right leg, the concern was understandable. After all, it would have fit in perfectly with the Mariners’ narrative this season of a seemingly never-ending stream of injuries.

In this respect, Seattle has used 48 players so far in 2021, which is the most in the Majors. However – for once – the ball club seems to have had some good fortune, at least relatively speaking.

After the game, Servais advised Kikuchi had appeared to avoid serious injury, as there was no fracture. However, they would have to wait until the following day for further confirmation.

On Sunday, the news was still positive. Speaking to the media ahead of the series finales against the Angels, Servais said:

“Yusei Kikuchi came in this morning and it was much better than maybe what we expected. There is some minimal swelling in his knee and he is getting some treatment right now, but he’s moving okay and he’s not on crutches.

“He got hit pretty good last night, but he’s trying to work out some of that swelling and he will get some treatment most of the day today. He’s got some time before his next scheduled start and we’ll just have to see how he continues to respond.”

The last part of Servais’ comments were particularly interesting. Despite the initial good news on the Saturday night, making his next scheduled start didn’t seem even possible for Kikuchi.

Of course, there is still some time, further testing and treatment to go for the Southpaw. Additionally, Seattle has shown time and again they are prepared to be patient and cautious, with Marco Gonzales’ recent extended absence being a good example.

As such, whether Kikuchi does indeed start this coming weekend against the Indians remains to be seen. However, even if he does end up missing a start or two, it beats an alternative which looked likely when first watching the incident which resulted in his knee injury.

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