Yusei Kikuchi made his first relief appearance of 2023 in a surprise pitching change that proved costly for the Toronto Blue Jays, as they were swept from the American League Wild Card series with a 2-0 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday.
Kikuchi was on the mound for both Minnesota runs after Toronto manager John Schneider made the contentious decision to send him in for starter Jose Berrios (0-1) with none out and the score 0-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning in Game 2 at Target Field.
Although Berrios had been in control through three shutout innings, Schneider pulled the right-hander after he walked the leadoff batter in the fourth.
Kikuchi, who had not come out of the bullpen since late 2022, allowed the next three batters to reach, putting the Blue Jays in a deficit that their offense could not overcome. The Japanese southpaw lasted only 1-2/3 innings and was charged with one earned run on three hits and a walk.
"The situation demanded that I didn't allow a run, but I wasn't able to avoid getting hit," Kikuchi said following Toronto's winless exit in the best-of-three series. "I just wanted to make it to one more game. It's frustrating."
Schneider's removal of the seemingly locked-in Berrios sparked uproar among the Canadian media and Blue Jays fans, with many venting their frustration online.
Ken Reid, a TV anchor for Canadian broadcaster Sportsnet, called it "one of the dumbest decisions to pull a starting pitcher in the history of baseball."
"I feel so bad for Kikuchi. This is not on him. It is on the geeks and their spreadsheets," Reid wrote on social media site X, implying the decision prioritized analytics over a feel for the game.
While Wednesday marked an unhappy ending, Kikuchi's turnaround in 2023 had been one of the stories of the season in Toronto. After a turbulent 2022 in which he struggled for confidence and battled injuries, the former Seattle Mariner cemented a place in the starting rotation and went 11-6 with an MLB career-best 3.86 ERA.
The AL Central champion Twins, whose roster includes Japanese right-hander Kenta Maeda, move on in the postseason for the first time since 2002 and will face the AL West champion Houston Astros in the Division Series from Saturday.
