Angels' Yusei Kikuchi leaves with forearm cramp in victory over Royals

Jeff Fletcher, The Orange County Register on Sep 25, 2025

Published in Baseball

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ANAHEIM — Just when Yusei Kikuchi was about to end his first Angels season on a high note, it ended on a slightly concerning one.

The left-hander came out of the Angels’ 3-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night because of a left forearm cramp.

Kikuchi was working on a one-hitter when he took the mound in the sixth. Before Kikuchi could even face a batter, Angels athletic trainer Eric Munson came to the mound, along with an entourage that included his interpreter, the manager and the pitching coach.

With no reason to take any chances at this point in the season, the Angels pulled Kikuchi, ending his season.

The first year of his three-year, $63 million deal went pretty much as expected, considering his history.

Last season, Kikuchi posted a 4.05 ERA in 175⅔ innings with the Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros. He was better after a July trade to the Astros, and the Angels had hopes that they would get that version of him for six months this season.

They had to settle for a lesser, albeit still productive, version.

Kikuchi finished with a 3.99 ERA in a career-high 178⅓ innings with the Angels. After making the All-Star team, Kikuchi struggled for much of the second half. He finished the year with a 2.16 ERA in his last three starts.

Kikuchi picked up the victory because the Angels had a 3-1 lead when he left, which was the result of some better at-bats than usual and the Royals’ shaky defense.

The Angels (71-87) struck out only six times, their fewest in a game since Sept. 10.

The Angels had struck out at least nine times in 11 consecutive games, going 1-10. They averaged 14 strikeouts per game.

It likely wasn’t some collective decision to have a better two-strike approach, but more the result of facing right-hander Stephen Kolek. His 17% strikeout rate coming into the game is lower than the major league average of 22%.

In the second inning, both Luis Rengifo and Christian Moore got hits on two-strike pitches. Rengifo scored on Oswald Peraza’s productive out, a ground ball to short with Moore running.

In the fourth, catcher Sebastian Rivero put a two-strike pitch into play, chopping it back to Kolek. He threw it into center field trying to get Peraza, and a run scored.

Between those runs, the Angels scored in their more typical fashion. Taylor Ward belted his 36th homer of the season.

The Royals cut the deficit to one with a run against Chase Silseth in the seventh, but Luis Garcia and Kenley Jansen handled the final two innings with a one-run lead. It was Jansen’s 28th save of the season.

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