Seafarers lose their fifth game in a row, 2-1 against Indian, despite Yusei Kikuchi's best start to the season

CLEVELAND – The real dividends of the Mariners' pitch plan put in place for Yusei Kikuchi this season are expected to be known next season.

This one-of-a-kind program, which includes a scheduled outing and one run down after every sixth or seventh start, is supposed to help the young southpaw make the transition from Nippon professional baseball to major league baseball and reduce the risk of long-term injury. .

But that seemed to bring short-term benefits on Friday to Progressive Field.

After being limited to one inning in his previous start and facing the Indians for the second time this season, Kikuchi had his best performance of the season, throwing seven innings, allowing one run on three hits and eliminating ten hitters. .

His teammates rewarded him for support and a lack of decision while he was losing 2 to 1 when Anthony Swarzak gave up a RBI single with Tyler Naquin in the bottom of the ninth . It was the fifth consecutive loss to Seattle.

"Yusei did a great job tonight," said director Scott Servais. "It's obviously as good as we've seen since he's a sailor. He continues to grow, evolve and improve. It was definitely a plus point. "

And it was not enough.

You can almost imagine that Felix Hernandez nods knowingly and says, "Welcome to the club, kid. This will not be the last time this happens. "

But Kikuchi's performance was perhaps the only positive point of the defeat. The rookie southpaw looked fresh and rested. His fastball hit a few ticks, constantly staying at 95-96 mph.

"He really had a quick electric ball tonight," said Servais. "His fastball had a lot of good life. It was very effective in the area. He has their guys in swing mode. "

Kikuchi attributed this victory to some of his success against the Indians. But it was not the extra rest he thought was important.

"I was able to work on my slider and my point of agreement on this one and get more break time, and I wanted to radically change this round and I'm able to do it and work it this week," he said. he declared. by the interpreter Justin Novak.

The start of a race was also one of the reasons for his peak speed, but again, it was not due to the extra rest.

"During this last start, I was able to focus only on that run and it continued in that beginning," he said. "I thought too long-term for these games. This time, I focused on one round at a time. And that helped my speed. "

Kikuchi kept the Indians out of the blows during the first three innings, allowing a single base runner to make a goal exit at the second inning.

The Mariners gave him a quick 1-0 lead in the fourth quarter. Jay Bruce hit his 10^th Cleveland's athlete, Shane Bieber, scored a curving ball over the wall in the right field, for a solo shot and a 1-0 lead.

Kikuchi's only run and the three safe shots arrived at the end of the race. Leonys Martin started with a double and Jose Ramirez followed with a single. With the runners in first and third place, the Mariners sacrificed a run and a lead by playing a double game on a ground ball from Carlos Santana's stick. Jordan Luplow doubled with two outs, but Kikuchi pushed Carlos Gonzalez to score the first goal to end the inning.

"I did a good job," Kikuchi said. "I had the impression of sitting fairly early on my fastball. And I was able to use land that I did not run out – a backdoor slider and my change of course. Using these lands gives me confidence to go ahead. "

Kikuchi was perfect in the following three innings, removing all nine batters in order, including six by withdrawal. As his throwing count increased, he seemed to become stronger, eliminating five of the last six batters he had faced.

"You can not ask for much more," said Servais. "He has seven major league debuts right now, and it was an elite thing."

Bieber was just as effective, scoring 7 2/3 innings and allowing one point on six hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.

"Offensively, we had some chances, but we did not have much success," said Servais. "You have to make big hits on the road and we could not do it tonight."

Seattle was 1 for 6 with the riders in score position and blocked eight batters.

Swarzak came into play in the ninth after Zac Rosscup scored an eighth scoreless goal. The right-handed veteran steered Francisco Lindor to start the inning.

"Whenever the first guy goes up, it makes things harder," said Swarzak. "A walk of four lengths looks horrible, but I assured myself that it was not ending a game and that the match ends well."

Swarzak forced Leonys Martin to pick the best player for the defensive player and remove Lindor from the base trails. Swarzak returned to replace Jose Ramirez in search of the second outing of the inning. But two balls to join Carlos Santana allowed the second goal to win and attract striker Naquin.

"Naquin swung a ball out of the box and hit it through the hole," Swarzak said. "The plan was to throw a slider out of the box. I did it and threw it below the area. He hit it in the ground and hit it through the hole. This is baseball. This will happen. I wish there were no guys in the second when this happened. But there was and we lost the match because of that. "