Yusei Kikuchi (33), who became the “bluebird of victory” after moving to the Houston Astros, recorded the most wins by left-handed Japanese pitchers in the Major League. 메이저놀이터
Kikuchi started the home game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday and led his team to an 11-5 victory by allowing seven hits and four runs in six innings. He walked zero and struck out six.
Kikuchi had his eighth win (nine losses) this season, marking his 40th career MLB championship. This broke the record of the most wins recorded by Kazuhisa Ishii for Japanese left-handers in the MLB. Ishii had 39 wins, 34 losses and an ERA of 4.44 for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets between 2002 and 2005.
Kikuchi, who played in MLB with the Seattle Mariners in 2019, has 40 wins, 46 losses and an ERA of 4.63. Last year, he won his first double-digit victory since his big league debut with 11 wins, 6 losses and an ERA of 3.86.
Kikuchi has been flying since the transfer.
Houston, the leading team in the American League West, gave up three promising players to the Toronto Blue Jays for autumn baseball and made a trade to bring in Kikuchi. Since then, Houston has won all seven games in which Kikuchi took the mound. Kikuchi has four wins and an ERA of 3.07 in seven appearances since joining the Houston Astros, which is much better than he did in the Toronto Blue Jays (22 games, four wins, nine losses and an ERA of 4.75).
Meanwhile, Ryu Hyun-jin (current Hanwha Eagles) has the most left-hander wins among Korean major leaguers with 78 wins, 48 losses and a 3.27 ERA.