SEATTLE -- Kyle Lewis produced again at the plate for the Mariners on Friday, but fellow rookie Yusei Kikuchi’s continued mound struggles loomed as the overriding factor in a 9-7 loss to the White Sox at T-Mobile Park.
Lewis hit a first-inning sacrifice fly and singled in the fifth in a 1-for-4 night, becoming the first Mariner to record an RBI in each of his first four career games. The 24-year-old right fielder saw his home run streak snapped at three games -- only the second Major Leaguer to manage that to start a career -- but is 6-for-15 (.400) since being called up from Double-A Arkansas on Tuesday.
Lewis is just the 10th Mariner with a hit in the first four games of a career and first since Abraham Almonte in 2013.
Lewis also covered considerable ground to run down a foul ball down the right-field line to retire Tim Anderson in the eighth, the second night in a row he’s ranged into foul territory to make a tough catch.
“Kyle Lewis is all over the field,” manager Scott Servais said. “He’s really on top of his game. Defensively we’re starting to see more of the range he’s got out there. But I’ve been really impressed by the quality of at-bats. The ball sounds a little different off his bat, which is a good thing.”
As for Kikuchi? The 28-year-old from Japan had pitched better of late, going 2-1 with a 3.52 ERA over his previous four starts, but his troubles returned with a poor showing against a White Sox team with the lowest-scoring offense in the American League.
“A lot of pitches in the middle of the plate today,” said Servais. “His command was off, certainly on his breaking balls. His slider wasn’t as crisp as we usually see and a couple curveballs he threw were in the middle of the plate. They were on him. The top of their lineup really swings the bat.”
Kikuchi gave up five runs on 10 hits over 2 1/3 innings as he fell to 6-10 with a 5.46 ERA in 30 starts. The southpaw allowed two home runs -- to Jose Abreu and Adam Engel -- to hike his season total to 36, the most given up by a rookie in MLB history.
The former rookie record was 33 home runs allowed by the Blue Jays’ Jerry Garvin in 1977. Garvin pitched 244 2/3 innings that season, while Kikuchi is at 151 2/3 with likely three starts remaining.
Kikichi said he still feels strong physically, but just left too many balls in the middle of the zone in his 60-pitch outing.
“I couldn’t really get the hitters off balance tonight,” Kikuchi said through interpreter Justin Novak. “With two strikes, they were a little too juicy and they put good swings on it.”
Of the 14 batted balls against Kikuchi, 10 had an exit velocity of 95 mph or more and six were 100 mph plus.
“The contact was loud,” Servais said. “Yusei has had one of those years where there’s been some really good outings, there’s been some where he struggled and tonight was not his best effort. He’ll come back. The thing is to finish the year as strong as he can and continue to learn from it.
“But it’s frustrating for him. Right when he thinks he’s got some momentum going, the brakes jump on it and he has a rough outing like he had tonight. But he’ll get through it and bounce back next time out.”
The White Sox evened their season record at 2-2 against the Mariners and are 65-82 overall, while Seattle slipped to 60-88 with 14 games remaining.