ANAHEIM -- Yusei Kikuchi finally looked like himself again Sunday, and the Angels had to like what they saw even if the result still came apart in a 5-2 loss to the Phillies.
After a rough stretch in his return from left shoulder inflammation, the left-hander delivered his deepest outing of the season, working seven innings and allowing two runs on six hits and a walk while striking out six in the series finale at Angel Stadium. The only damage came on solo homers by J.T.
Realmuto in the third inning and Edmundo Sosa in the seventh, and both came in a game where the Angels’ offense never gave Kikuchi much support. Philadelphia completed the three-game sweep, and the Angels dropped their seventh straight.
For Kikuchi, though, the outing was a real step forward. His fastball averaged 95.7 mph, according to Statcast, and reached 97.8 mph when he blew a swinging strike past Derek Hill in the fifth.
That kind of life, paired with better command, was the kind of sign the Angels had been waiting for after he posted a 15.63 ERA in four rehab outings and then allowed five runs in five innings in his first start back on Aug. 23.
“My fastball command is something I've been working on for the whole season, not only with the fastball, but all pitches,” Kikuchi said through interpreter Koki Goto. “In my recent starts, I was able to get strikes, get ahead in the count, so I think I'm going in a good trend right now. But the two homers allowed were in the heart of the zone, so in the times that matter, I need to execute it more in a tougher spot.”
He showed it early. Kikuchi kept the Phillies hitless through the first two innings before Realmuto turned around a slider that stayed over the middle of the plate.
Even after that, he settled in and retired 11 of the next 14 hitters he faced. One of the cleaner moments came in the sixth, when shortstop Oswald Peraza started a double play to help Kikuchi finish off Alec Bohm.
“I thought Kikuchi was great,” manager Kurt Suzuki said. “The stuff was there last outing, it's just today was a little bit more consistent.
I felt like the location on his fastball was better. Used some breaking balls.
Seven innings, two runs and it was two solo shots, so I thought he pitched great.”
The one pitch Kikuchi would probably want back came to open the seventh. Sosa, who had already launched a go-ahead grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning on Friday, jumped on a splitter that caught too much plate and sent it out for another big swing in the series. Kikuchi said the pitch got up in the zone after he had opened the at-bat with a strike on a slider.
“The first strike, I was able to get a strike with the slider. So for my second pitch, I was trying to get a swing and miss or a foul off my splitter,” Kikuchi said.
“And try to go back to my slider on the [next] pitch, but the splitter command was a little bit high. I knew he hit a homer off of a splitter two days ago, so in that situation, I should have maybe thrown it a little bit lower.
But that's part of the game.”
Even with the homer, Kikuchi still got through seven after working around a one-out double by Bryson Stott in the frame. He finished with 92 pitches, 61 for strikes, and logged seven innings for the first time in nine starts this season. The last time he reached that mark was Aug. 20, 2025 against the Reds.
Kikuchi, 35, is trying to close the season on a strong note. He remains under contract through 2027 after signing a three-year, $63 million deal before last season, and he was an All-Star in ’25 after posting a 3.99 ERA in a career-high 33 starts. This year has been a tougher ride: he worked to raise his arm angle, made only seven starts before landing on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation, and missed nearly four months recovering.
His numbers still show a pitcher searching for his first win, as he carries a 5.65 ERA, but the strikeout-to-walk profile remains encouraging, with 43 strikeouts and 16 walks in 43 innings. More than anything, Sunday suggested the fastball is moving in the right direction again.
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