Shota

Imanaga

A replacement starter was not announced, though Caleb Kilian will likely figure prominently. Imanaga ends an outstanding rookie season 15-3 with a 2.91 ERA and a 174/28 K/BB in 173 1/3 innings. It’s the kind of showing that would have been good for Rookie of the Year honors in plenty of season. However, in the 2024 NL race, he’ll be vying with Jackson Chourio for the third spot on ballots.

It’s pretty nuts that Imanaga is 15-3 with a 2.91 ERA and probably won’t finish in the top three of the NL Rookie of the Year balloting. Imanaga has won six straight starts since taking a 1-0 loss to the Blue Jays last month. He’ll make his final start next weekend against the Reds.

Imanaga did deal with some traffic, as he walked three and gave up five hits. Outside of a two-run homer to the ever-so-underrated Brent Rooker, he kept that contact at bay with those 11 punchouts. That’s a new career-high for the rookie, and it improves his K/BB to 170/28 over his first season.

Imanaga gave up two homers to Tommy Edman and one to Max Muncy, but they were solo shots and there was no other damage. Imanaga currently has 26 homers allowed and 25 walks for the season. Ignoring Kyle Hendricks in the 60-game 2020 season, Imanaga could become the first NL starter since Bartolo Colon in 2015 to give up more homers than walks while qualifying for the ERA title.

Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge threw the final two innings to complete the team no-hitter. That’s the first time that achievement has happened in Wrigley Field since Milt Pappas no-hit the Padres on September 2, 1972. It didn’t appear this was going to be a deep outing for Imanaga, as he dealt with some early trouble and the Cubs had pitchers warming up early. That trouble didn’t follow him, as only his pitch count of 95 kept him from trying for the no-no. There have been ups and downs for Imanaga in his rookie year, but way more of the former than the latter. He’ll try and keep it going Tuesday in a scheduled marquee matchup with fellow Japanese rookie Yoshinobu Yamamoto (shoulder) Tuesday.

Imanaga responded beautifully after a rough first inning to earn his third victory in five starts. He attacked Washington’s hitters with plenty of high fastballs and then a mix of sweepers to the left-handed hitters and changeups and splitters to the right-handed batters. He also passed Mark Prior for the most strikeouts by a Cubs’ rookie since 2002 and that comes with a sterling 3.14 ERA through 25 starts. His next start is scheduled to come at home against the Pirates.

Imanaga gave up both runs on solo homers. He allowed just four hits in total while issuing two walks with three strikeouts. Not exactly dominant, but a solid effort; and he’s allowed just three total runs over his last two outings. Even with some downs this has been a very impressive rookie campaign for Imanaga; one that sees him carry a 3.08 ERA and 140/22 K/BB over 140 1/3 innings into his next scheduled start against Washington on Friday.

Imanaga struck out six and walked one. The only damage was a second-inning homer from Joey Loperfido. It’s the first time Imanaga has lost in MLB without very deservedly losing it; his only other defeats saw him give up seven and 10 runs. He has a 3.11 ERA that could well come down when he faces the Marlins next weekend.

Amazingly, Imanaga wound up only being charged with three earned runs as all of the damage against him in the fourth inning came after a one-out fielding error by third baseman Isaac Paredes. The 30-year-old lefty was haunted by the long ball in this one as he served up a solo shot to Jhonkensy Noel in the fourth inning and a two-run dinger to Steven Kwan in the ensuing frame. He finished with just three strikeouts and only issued one walk. He’ll bring a stellar 3.16 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 131/19 K/BB ratio across 128 1/3 innings (22 starts) into a home outing on Sunday against the free-falling Blue Jays.

It was another strong outing for Imanaga, who has totaled 17 strikeouts over 13 2/3 innings in his first two starts on the month while allowing six earned runs. His lone blemish on the night came on a two-run homer by Royce Lewis in the fourth inning, but the Cubs’ offensive attack proved to be more than enough to earn Imanaga the win. Imanaga now has nine wins on the year and lowered his ERA to 3.06 in this outing. The star lefty will look to pick up his 10th win of the season on Tuesday against the Guardians.