ARLINGTON, Texas — The Angels’ run of impressive starting pitching performances from their rotation of 20-somethings came to an end with the return of 35-year-old Yusei Kikuchi on Sunday.
After nearly four months on the injured list, Kikuchi came back to allow five runs in five innings of the Angels’ 5-3 loss to the Texas Rangers.
Even though Kikuchi had a 15.63 ERA in four minor league rehab starts, he insisted that his stuff was big league ready. The Angels, who watched him throw two bullpen sessions this week, apparently agreed. They put him back into the rotation as the sixth starter.
The other five had been on a hot streak coming into this game. George Klassen, Walbert Ureña, Grayson Rodriguez, Reid Detmers and Ryan Johnson — all 26 or younger — had combined to allow three earned runs in 32 innings in the first five games of this trip.
Kikuchi gave up three runs in the second inning, and then two more in the fifth, ending his day.
Kikuchi gave up seven hits, including five that were hit harder than 98 mph. He gave up homers to Elias Diaz and Ezequiel Duran.
His fastball averaged 96 mph, which was slightly up from when he pitched in April, before going down with shoulder inflammation.
“I thought the stuff was good today,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “The velo was up. It just came down to execution, with two strikes. He did a really good job getting to two strikes, and then with two strikes, the execution wasn’t as good, and those are the mistakes they hit.”
Kikuchi gave up five hits on two-strike pitches, including both homers.
“First of all, I’m glad to be back to the show,” Kikuchi said through his interpreter. “I didn’t feel any pain after this start, so that’s one thing that I wanted to achieve today. The results are results. I have to go over it with the coaches, but overall, I’m just happy to be back with the team.”
Kikuchi also shelved his cutter, which was a new pitch he added this season. He threw only his fastball, curve, splitter and slider. That fits with the philosophy of interim pitching coach Tim Leveque, who has been having pitchers throw their best pitches more often.
The Angels (52-78) will have the final month of the season to figure out what they want to do with Kikuchi going forward. He’s in the second year of a three-year, $63-million deal.
Kikuchi has only made eight starts, with a 6.25 ERA, in this injury-marred season. It’s not enough to presume that can’t be productive, even if the younger pitchers look better at the moment.
“We only have a month left to this season, so I want to end strong, without any issues physically,” Kikuchi said. “In the off-season, I might try a new pitch or I might try to improve the current pitches I have. We don’t know yet, but I just want to end strong and have a good lap to the next season coming up.”
When Kikuchi left the Angels were down 5-0 and showing no signs of life at the plate, which is how they’ve looked for most of the past month.
They woke up in the eighth to make things interesting.
Zach Neto led off the inning with a homer, his 22nd of the season. Neto went 14 for 28 with two homers and nine RBIs in the six-game trip.
“He’s having good at-bats,” Suzuki said. “He’s not trying to do too much, and I think when he stays in the zone and really locks in the zone, I feel like he’s one of the most dangerous hitters in the game, and the talent shows up.”
An out later, Moisés Ballesteros singled, his second hit of the game, and then Vaughn Grissom doubled. A Josh Lowe sacrifice fly knocked in one and then Gustavo Campero’s bloop single drove in another.
José Siri hit a fly ball to the warning track, ending the inning.
In the ninth, Christian Moore led off with a double against Rangers closer Jacob Latz, bringing the tying run to the plate, but Denzer Guzman struck out and Neto hit a flyout. The Rangers intentionally walked Mike Trout and then Ballesteros struck out to end the game.
Although the Angels only had three runs, Suzuki took some solace in the fact that they had 11 hits. It was the third time in the last four games they have reached double-digits in hits.
“Like the first night (a 2-1 loss in 10 innings), the big hit eluded us with runners in scoring position, and that’s how the game goes sometimes,” Suzuki said. “But I thought the at-bats were good. We put up 11 hits and got the winning run to the plate. I thought the guys never gave up, which was good.”