The 33-year-old southpaw scattered five hits and four walks on the afternoon. The lone tally against him came on an RBI single by Willy Adames in the fifth inning after Heliot Ramos had doubled and advanced to third on a throwing error. Kikuchi got 10 swings and misses on 102 pitches on the day — half of those on his slider — while registering a CSW of 26 percent. Still winless on the season, he’ll tote a 3.38 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and a 28/14 K/BB ratio (29 1/3 innings) into Saturday’s showdown against the Twins in Minneapolis.

Kikuchi had his best start of the season on Tuesday in Texas. He worked efficiently through five shutout frames before a bunt single, throwing error, and sacrifice fly put the Rangers on the board with one run in the sixth. Kikuchi would end the inning and finish the day with six strikeouts on 10 whiffs. The 33-year-old left-hander will take a 4.13 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, and a 22/10 K/BB ratio across 24 innings into a start against the Giants in Anaheim on Sunday.

The left-hander has now allowed 10 runs in 18 innings this season despite facing the White Sox twice and the Rays once. That’s not exactly inspiring a ton of confidence for the Angels’ big free agent signing. Kikuchi continues to feature his slider, but it had just one whiff on 15 swings tonight for a seven percent whiff rate. The 33-year-old appears to have tweaked his slider this season, throwing it slower with more vertical break, but we’re not entirely sure why since the pitch has really underperformed after carrying him in 2024.

Kikuchi gave the Angels the quality start they badly needed today and even left in line for the win after the team took a 5-3 lead in the top of the seventh. The tired bullpen couldn’t hold it, though. Kikuchi also allowed three runs in six innings against the White Sox his first time out, but he’s yet to earn a win. He’ll face the Rays next.