All eyes on lefty Kikuchi in spring training debut for Mariners

PEORIA, Ariz. — Yusei Kikuchi felt the nerves Monday that would normally accompany taking the mound in front of tens of thousands of fans in a major ballpark, not the few thousand who showed up for a spring training game in the desert.

“I’ve been pitching in Japan for the last nine years and I wanted to test what I was doing in Japan against major league hitters and I wanted to see how they reacted,” Kikuchi said through an interpreter. “So I was really kind of excited and also nervous about that.”

Kikuchi made his debut for the Seattle Mariners throwing two innings against the Cincinnati Reds in a start that featured a little bit of everything, from moments of dominance to Kikuchi working out of a jam.

The Mariners were pleased with what they saw.

“He had a little nerves, no doubt about it, but fastball was really good, he was up to 95 (mph), the breaking pitches we know are outstanding. Thought he handled it really, really well,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “He’s going to take a little time to get his routine. You saw him throwing outside the dugout before, there’s a few adjustments there, but really happy for him getting that first outing under his belt.”

Kikuchi’s most notable at-bat was his lone strikeout, when he tied up Joey Votto on a deceptive 2-2 curveball that left the veteran slugger waving unsuccessfully. While Kikuchi has a fastball in the mid-90s, his breaking pitches and the ability to hide the ball in his windup add to the challenges of facing the lefty.

“It’s spring training and I’m sure he’s tuning up his swing as well but to strike out someone the caliber of Joey Votto, a hitter of that caliber, I’m really happy about the result of today,” Kikuchi said.

The rest of the outing forced Kikuchi to do a little bit of everything. He had to scamper off the mound to cover first base on a groundout by Yasiel Puig. He faced the challenge of traffic on the bases after a rough second inning that featured a leadoff walk, two errors and giving up two runs — although both were unearned.

Kikuchi threw 29 pitches with 19 strikes, the first step in a transitional season.

“Obviously, when you’re up on the mound you want to shut them down one, two, three when you’re up there but after I let some guys on today I think I was able to keep my pitch count low and get some double play balls so I’m happy with what I did,” Kikuchi said.

One of the biggest adjustments will be Kikuchi’s pregame routine.