If Shota Imanaga keeps pitching this way, maybe the Cubs’ rotation won’t be in such bad shape.
Maybe. He’s still just one-fifth of the equation.
But that one-fifth gave the Cubs more than enough Sunday, throwing seven scoreless innings in a 10-1 walloping of the Twins at Wrigley Field.
“[He was] just on the attack, lots of strikes,” manager Craig Counsell said of Imanaga, who threw 63 of his 99 pitches for strikes. “Split-finger was excellent. Anytime you get seven innings from your starter, you’re in good shape.”
And anytime that starter gets 10 runs of support, you’re in better shape. Nico Hoerner had a bases-loaded triple and an RBI single. Michael Busch went 3-for-5 with an RBI, and Alex Bregman hit a two-out, two-run homer in the first.
But the day belonged to Imanaga, who’s moving further away from a brutal four-game stretch in which he had a 10.80 ERA, raising his season number from 2.32 to 4.74. His performance Sunday lowered it to 3.91. Counsell said the biggest difference has been limiting the damage.
“Shota is going to give up home runs,” Counsell said. “That’s the nature of his arsenal. But when they come and how they come has to be a part of it. He is limiting the home run right now. The walk limitation I’m also a big fan of. He’s done a really good job of that.”
Imanaga walked one batter, in the fourth inning, and he was eliminated in the next at-bat on an around-the-horn double play. It was one of several fine defensive plays by the Cubs that included a long-running catch by center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong that ended with him crashing into the wall. Never mind that the score was 10-0 at the time.
“That pitch was a mistake pitch on me,” Imanaga said through a translator. “[Catcher Carson Kelly] wanted a different spot to set up a different pitch. I felt like I threw it in the zone where the hitter could hit it.
“It’s really helpful when you know that any bullets hit to him, there’s a possibility that he’s going to make the catch. Knowing that he’s behind you allows you to attack the zone more. He’s been saving a lot of runs for us.”
But Imanaga made few mistakes, becoming the only Cubs starter this season with two starts of at least seven scoreless innings. The other came May 2 against the Diamondbacks. In seven starts since that four-game skid, Imanaga has allowed more than two runs once.
“He’s been good,” Bregman said. “I thought he executed all five pitches really well today. That’s huge when he’s got his five-pitch mix working. The splits were good, the spin was good. Heaters were good up. A few sinkers, too.”
With Jameson Taillon expected to come off the injured list Monday and Matthew Boyd throwing well again, the Cubs just might have three-fifths of a strong rotation. Though Colin Rea has been pitching better of late, the Cubs could find an upgrade. And David Peterson could very well be a placeholder for a potential acquisition. The rotation is by no means in tip-top shape.
But Imanaga appears to be reasserting himself as the staff ace he was in 2024, when he went 15-3 with a 2.91 ERA and finished fifth in Cy Young voting. For someone who seemingly was headed elsewhere in the offseason — when the Cubs declined their option on Imanaga’s contract and he declined his option, becoming a free agent before accepting the Cubs’ one-year qualifying offer — this reunification just might work out.
“With the pitching coaches giving me feedback and data about what I’ve done well, what I’ve done poorly, and trying to make the good points better, as well as working on what I need to work on, I felt like I was able to accomplish that,” Imanaga said of his return to form. “I feel like I’m not a complete pitcher yet; I’m not the final product. But I’m confident I can get better there.”
