Kikuchi is scheduled to make his next start Tuesday at home against the Yankees.
After Kikuchi turned in his best outing of the season Aug. 18 in Toronto -- a complete-game, eight-strikeout shutout -- the Mariners elected to shut him down for a week for maintenance purposes. Since the southpaw isn't dealing with any physical issues, he shouldn't face any restrictions with his pitch count while slotting back into the rotation this week. The Mariners handed Justus Sheffield and Felix Hernandez (lat) starts this past week to compensate for Kikuchi's absence, but there will be room for all three in the rotation moving forward with manager Scott Servais banishing Wade LeBlanc to the bullpen.