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Chicago Cubs rookie Shota Imanaga continues his brilliant streak in a wild 1-0 win: ‘It’s pretty tremendous’

paul sullivan, chicago tribune
·6 min read
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Shota Imanaga still can walk around town without being recognized.

“I haven’t really walked around too much,” the Chicago Cubs rookie said Saturday through an interpreter. “I’ve been going from the field back to my house. The only time I really go out anywhere is buying my latte at Dunkin’ Donuts.

“So hopefully I can keep doing well and keep putting up stats so people get to know me when I’m walking around.”

Imanaga joked that at his favorite Dunkin’ Donuts he’s probably recognized as that “guy that can’t make up his mind” between ordering a small or medium latte.

But all that figures to change if the Japanese pitching star continues his historic start with the Cubs.

Imanaga pitched seven shutout innings Saturday in the Cubs’ 1-0 walk-off win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, allowing four hits while striking out seven in another brilliant outing before a sun-drenched crowd of 39,857.

In doing so, Imanaga reduced his major-league-leading ERA to 0.84 with his sixth scoreless outing in nine starts. It’s the lowest ERA through the first nine starts of a pitcher’s career since it became a stat in 1913. The previous best was Los Angeles Dodgers phenom Fernando Valenzuela’s 0.91 over his first nine starts in 1981.

“If I’m being honest, I’m not really too interested in stats like that or any (of) historic value,” Imagana said. “But knowing there were so many good pitchers that came before me … it’s a good learning experience.”

Fernandomania became a part of baseball history. Shotamania isn’t quite a thing yet, but the Cubs marketing department must be salivating at a potential new revenue stream.

“When you start getting into this territory, you have to be a little surprised,” manager Craig Counsell said of Imanaga’s historic numbers. “We’re fortunate to watch it. It’s been so much fun to watch, his aptitude out there, his pitch-making ability, his stuff, his competitiveness — they’ve all been just a joy to watch.”

Photos: Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0 at Wrigley Field

Cody Bellinger doubled with one out in the ninth and scored the only run on a Christopher Morel single, barely sliding ahead of the tag of catcher Joey Bart as Wrigley Field erupted like an overstuffed bag of microwaved popcorn. A second aftershock occurred a few minutes later when the inevitable replay challenge by Pirates manager Derek Shelton confirmed the call of plate umpire Chris Conroy.

The 2-hour, 10-minute game moved so quickly, almost everyone stuck around for the wild ending and still had time to party in Wrigleyville on an 82-degree afternoon.

Imanaga said his comfort factor in Chicago has been helped by having teammate Seiya Suzuki and Japanese interpreters and employees in the organization. He then credited Héctor Neris, who delivered a postgame speech after the intense win that followed two losses to the Pirates.

“Usually it’s after a loss,” Imanaga said of the reliever’s speech. “The fact he did it after a win, it’s very reassuring. He had a lot of positive words, so all of that combined has been helping a lot.”

Neris, who notched his fourth win with a perfect ninth, declined to go into his speech or the reasons he felt it was necessary to give one. Usually a clubhouse speech is given during a losing stretch or a rain delay in Game 7 of the World Series.

Bellinger said it gave him “goosebumps” listening to Neris.

“I wouldn’t say it’s unusual, but it was just something really fun and got the boys going a little bit,” Bellinger said.

Maybe they needed it. After being no-hit for six innings Friday by Pirates phenom Paul Skenes, the Cubs offense failed to produce again Saturday against starter Bailey Falter, who kept pace with Imanaga with 7 2/3 shutout innings, allowing only three hits.

The Cubs’ .233 team average would be the lowest in franchise history, aside from the 2020 edition that hit an anemic .220 in the pandemic-shortened, 60-game season.

Imanaga had no-hit stuff and allowed only two infield hits over the first six innings. Shortstop Miles Mastrobuoni double-clutched on the first one in the fourth and took an extra step before throwing to first in the sixth.

Back-to-back two-out singles by Jared Triolo and Bart in the seventh meant the end was near for Imanaga. But he struck out Michael Taylor on three pitches to escape the jam, pumping his fist after Taylor swung through a splitter.

Counsell lifted Imanaga after 88 pitches, and the lefty still has not allowed more than two earned runs in any start. After starting the game with a five-pitch walk to Andrew McCutchen, Imanaga threw only 16 more balls to the next 25 hitters, showing complete control of the strike zone.

“Based on pitch count, I probably could’ve gone out (for the eighth),” Imanaga said, adding he was “feeling some fatigue, and it might have been a different story if I did.”

Mark Leiter Jr. struck out the side in a scoreless eighth, and Neris had a rare 1-2-3 inning in the ninth.

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“Sometimes this game, it’s really hard,” Bellinger said. “Our pitching staff today was the only reason we had any chance of getting a win.”

Jameson Taillon will start the series finale Sunday. Javier Assad and Justin Steele figure to pitch the first two games of the series against the Atlanta Braves, but Counsell will have to make a decision on Kyle Hendricks, whose next scheduled turn would come Thursday.

Hendricks, who is 1-5 with a 7.71 career ERA against the Braves, could be skipped for Imanaga while Hendricks works on his issues. Asked if Hendricks could go to the bullpen to work things out, Counsell said: “We have to consider everything. That’s what we should do and then consider the situation we’re in with the rest of the pitching.”

Counsell said the Cubs would “assess” Hendricks’ status by Tuesday after a day off Monday.

“We’re in a spot where we need Kyle’s innings right now,” he said. “We’ve got injury issues, right? That’s part of this conversation, for sure. But we’ve also got to consider everything because we’ve got to do better.”

The Cubs need strong starting pitching until the offense wakes up. Nico Hoerner continues to be sidelined with a sore left hamstring, and Dansby Swanson probably won’t return until the Braves series.

Until then, the starters might need to follow the lead of Shotamania and be like Shota.

“Obviously I wasn’t around for Fernando,” Bellinger said. “But if it was anything like this, it’s pretty tremendous, honestly.”