Everything was working for Yusei Kikuchi Sunday afternoon. With Golden Week having gotten under way, Kikuchi put on a show for the season-high crowd of 28,930 that filed into Seibu Dome and saw the Lions deliver a 15-1 mauling of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
It didn't seem to matter what Kikuchi threw, because the Eagles never got a solid handle on anything he offered up.
Kikuchi's fastball sat in the mid-to-low 140s, though he cranked it up to 147 to strike out Casey McGehee on the 96th pitch of his outing. He combined that with a biting slider, an OK change-up and so-so curve, with the end results being seven solid innings of one-run ball, seven strikeouts and four hits allowed.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.