Yusei Kikuchi News: Fans five in no-decision

Kikuchi didn't factor into the decision Thursday against Detroit after allowing two runs on five hits and one walk in five innings. He struck out five.

Both of Kikuchi's runs allowed came via solo homers, with one coming on a third-inning shot by Javier Baez and another on a fourth-inning blast by Gleyber Torres. It was still an encouraging bounce-back effort overall by the left-hander, who yielded a lone walk after lending a whopping 18 free passes over 25.1 frames in April. Kikuchi will look to further improve his 4.21 ERA, 1.54 WHIP and 33:19 K:BB across 36.1 frames in a tough matchup next week versus the Blue Jays, who entered Wednesday with a .758 OPS against left-handed pitching this season.