Kikuchi threw a perfect first inning with two strikeouts in Friday's win over the Rangers in extra innings.
The lefty threw one frame, as planned, before turning things over to rookie Justus Sheffield. Manager Scott Servais said in late March that the team would do this with Kikuchi every few starts to ease his transition to affiliated baseball's more demanding pitching schedule. He should be available for something close to a normal pitch count next week against Cleveland, and we should know when his next abbreviated outing is coming several days in advance.