They’re calling it a neck strain, but we all know Yusei Kikuchi is actually going on the Injured List for Left Arm Shittyness.

The Blue Jays announced the move ahead of tonight’s series-opener in Seattle….

This move allows the Blue Jays to get Max Castillo back on the roster, which could come in handy as Anthony Banda/Casey Lawrence is starting tonight. The Blue Jays also haven’t named a starter for Friday’s game yet, so Castillo could figure into that.

Anyways, back to Kikuchi.

After a very good start against the Tampa Bay Rays last week, Kikuchi again completely lost control of the strike zone on Tuesday in Oakland. He allowed four earned runs and walked five batters and was only able to clear two-and-one-third innings.

Since the beginning of June, Kikuchi has only cleared five innings in one start, and that was the aforementioned Tampa game last week. Given the way he’s been going, the Blue Jays had to figure out to slam the rest button with Kikuchi because it isn’t working right now.

There had been some thought the team could opt to put him in the ‘pen where he could work on specific things in a role with less pressure. That’s what the team did with Robbie Ray when he was originally acquired mid-way through a miserable 2020 season with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

But for now, Kikuchi will take a breather and try to figure out what’s happening. If he can’t get things sorted, the Blue Jays will need a solution before the trade deadline to fill the number five spot in the starting rotation.