Yusei Kikuchi can take a punch.
But can he throw a counter?
That’s what Scott Servais is waiting to find out. After producing four consecutive quality starts, Kikuchi — a 27-year-old rookie lefty — has been knocked around in the last two, surrendering 20 hits and 10 earned runs in just 6.2 total innings.
Servais was asked prior to Friday’s game whether Kikuchi may be due for a shortened start.
He took it one step further.
“I talked to Yusei today for a while,” Servais said. “We discussed a number of things — kind of where he’s at at this point in the season.