With the All-Star Game in the rearview mirror, the Toronto Blue Jays are already looking ahead to Friday's matchup with the Detroit Tigers.
The team announced it would adjust the starting pitching rotation to orchestrate an extra outing for Yusei Kikuchi ahead of the July 31 trade deadline.
Kikuchi finished off the first half of the season in rough fashion. In the team's last game before All-Star week, he took the mound against the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 14. There, he had a solid start through the first four frames but gave up a three-run homer en route to allowing seven total runs in the fifth before being pulled.
Kikuchi has lived and died in the strike zone across his 20 starts throughout the 2024 campaign. He began the year maintaining control and keeping the ball in the park, as he gave up just four home runs through his first 10 starts, however, he has since conceded 12 over his last 10.
Out of the four Blue Jays starters with 100 innings pitched on the year, Kikuchi (4-8, 4.42 ERA) boasts the most strikeouts with 117, while also holding the lowest walk total at 26 — including setting a career-high two games ago by punching out 13 without conceding a single walk.
According to Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith, the Rogers Centre should expect plenty of scouting presence from around the league throughout this upcoming weekend. The extra appearance will pit Kikuchi against two teams that are in the lower half of the standings when it comes to weighted on-base average against lefties.
Toronto originally signed Kikuchi to a three-year deal during free agency ahead of the 2022 campaign and will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.
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