2 weeks Ago
CHICAGO — Matching last season’s success is going to be a tall order for Shota Imanaga. The leader of a strong Cubs rotation last season, Imanaga finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting and fifth in the Cy Young race. The dynamic lefty was impressive enough to earn both the Opening Day and home opener starts for the Cubs this season.
Advertisement After three starts against three of the more dangerous offenses in baseball, Imanaga looks primed to back up his brilliant initial campaign. “He’s making pitches,” manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s what it’s about.
He makes a pitch, then he makes another pitch, then he makes another pitch. He just doesn’t make mistakes. That’s a pretty good formula.
” Imanaga’s impressive effort Friday — 7 1/3 innings of one-run baseball — helped hand the San Diego Padres their first loss of the season and pushed the Cubs to two games over .500 with a 3-1 victory. Imanaga knows he can’t lean on last year’s success.
He’s continuing to try and keep the opposition guessing. He’s upped his sweeper usage to 11.6 percent after using it just 7 percent of the time in 2024.
It’s a small tweak — he threw it 12 times out of 91 pitches Friday — but one he hopes helps him stay among the best pitchers in baseball. “This is the major leagues, a very high level,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “It’s not somewhere where you can do the same thing as the previous year.
Just going based on what I think is the best pitch in that moment.” Pete Crow-Armstrong, who made a brilliant defensive play in center field to help Imanaga’s effort, said he wasn’t even aware the Padres (7-1) had yet to lose. On a day with a strong wind in, Crow-Armstrong ranged far to his right and snagged a line drive off the bat of Xander Bogaerts to start the second inning.
Walls be warned, PCA's out here. pic.twitter.
com/Reo8vr3gyo — Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 4, 2025 “I thought that was fantastic defense,” Imanaga said. “When the ball was hit, I was thinking it was probably going to be a double, more than a double. So no outs and a runner on second or third.
But all of a sudden, Pete showed up and caught it. It was a fantastic play.” The center fielder was able to keep himself from banging into the wall too hard, avoiding injury while helping Imanaga limit his pitch count early.
Outside of a solo homer in the third from Martin Maldonado, Imanaga allowed little damage. He struck out four Padres and walked none while giving up just four hits. Advertisement Only 15 starters have gone seven or more innings this season.
Imanaga became the first to do it twice, and he’s done so against a pair of strong offenses in the Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks. In an era when starters don’t often go deep into games, Imanaga’s presence in the rotation is so important. “One, it means you’re getting a heck of an effort,” Counsell said.
“There’s obviously some residual effects for your bullpen. You’re putting us deep into the game and getting to the right place in the bullpen. All three starts have been awesome and he’s off to a great start.
” Imanaga has an ERA of 0.98 through three outings. Last season, he kept an ERA under 1.
00 through nine starts. It’s unlikely he’ll match that feat again, but it seems like he’s ready to back up an incredibly impressive debut season. The Cubs are also trying to show that they’re a special base-running team.
After extending innings in Arizona with hustle and heads-up plays on the bases, the Cubs did it again Friday when it was clear runs would be hard to come by. In the fifth with two outs, the bases loaded and the score tied at 1, Justin Turner rolled a groundball to shortstop. Bogaerts, ranging to his right and on one knee, made the decision to throw to second.
But Seiya Suzuki was hustling, as has been the Cubs’ MO this season , and beat the throw. A run scored on that play and the next, an error by the normally sure-handed Manny Machado, giving the Cubs their 3-1 lead. “That’s definitely a feeling throughout the entire roster,” Crow-Armstrong said of the base running.
“Once we start seeing more and more guys doing it, we’re going to see more games like this that are close be (decided by) two runs instead of one run. I firmly believe that. That was a huge play.
” In Arizona, the Cubs put up a three-spot after Crow-Armstrong beat a two-out throw to second to load the bases and Miguel Amaya followed with a bases-clearing double. What happened Friday was one of multiple plays already this season where the Cubs have taken a seemingly easy out and instead used their speed and hustle to extend innings. Advertisement “Ten games in and we’ve got six runs from beating forceouts at second base,” Counsell said.
“That’s a real credit to the guys and it’s a real credit to just a detail that we might go 30 games and that may not matter. But when you can make that big of an impact with some base-running plays, I think the guys in there feel like it’s important. They’ve shown it and we’ve won games because of it.
” Ten games in and the Cubs are 6-4 and in first place. It’s far too early to look at the standings, but it’s a spot they hope they become very familiar with. If they can get great starting pitching from their ace while stealing runs against good teams with smart plays, October baseball won’t feel like such a foreign concept at Wrigley Field.
(Photo: David Banks / Imagn Images).
