When Schneider came out to remove him, Kikuchi walked back to the dugout to a standing ovation from the Rogers Centre crowd filled with mostly screaming school children during the weekday matinee. But Kikuchi buckled down and struck out Luis Robert Jr., after which he clapped his hand against his glove in celebration. Kikuchi came back out for the sixth inning and first baseman Andrew Vaughn singled to right field with one out then advanced to second on a wild pitch. 9 hitter Romy González to exit the frame unscathed. But after falling behind, Kikuchi got second baseman Lenyn Sosa to fly out to right field and then came back to strike out No. Already pitching with a 4-0 lead, the only real threat came in the fifth inning when left fielder Andrew Benintendi led off with a single and, a batter later, catcher Seby Zavala walked on four pitches.
Kikuchi was mixing in all four of his pitches and made efficient work of a languishing White Sox lineup. I thought ( Danny Jansen) the last two nights was awesome, kind of walked those guys right through it, and they’re kind of competing with each other, I think a little bit.” “I thought (Kikuchi) today just is following the lead of everyone else, where, you know, good game plan, good execution. “Collectively, I think that they’re throwing strikes and they’re executing their pitches,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said of his rotation’s performance of late. The scoreless start lowered the left-hander’s ERA to 3.00 and continued his 2023 renaissance by completing his fourth start - out of five - where he allowed only one run or fewer. Yusei Kikuchi kept the rotation’s momentum rolling, pitching 5 2/3 shutout innings over the White Sox with eight strikeouts and one walk in the win that secured the Blue Jays’ first sweep of the season. At the start of play Wednesday, the Blue Jays had recorded an American League-high 14 quality starts - six innings, three runs or fewer - tied with Pittsburgh for the most in the majors. After Wednesday’s 8-0 win over the Chicago White Sox, the Blue Jays rotation has allowed just five runs over 52 1/3 innings for an 0.86 ERA with a combined 48 strikeouts and 10 walks over the last eight games.
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