Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga understood the challenge the Yankees posed, even with Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger sidelined.
He did his part. The Cubs just didn’t give him the run support he needed.
Imanaga allowed two home runs in what otherwise was a terrific start, and the Cubs were shut out for the 10th time in a 2-0 loss Friday to the Yankees at Wrigley Field.
‘‘He’s been fantastic,’’ outfielder Ian Happ said of Imanaga. ‘‘The ability to throw a splitter competitively quite a bit and what he’s been able to do to lefties with that sinker, it’s been fun to watch. Not enough run support for him today, but he was fantastic.’’
After taking three of four games from the Cardinals in St. Louis, the Cubs were shut down by right-hander Will Warren and two relievers. They managed five hits in dropping the opener of the weekend series.
Imanaga, who was coming off scoreless outings in victories against the Twins and Pirates, was a tough-luck loser. He allowed two runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings and struck out six without a walk.
Imanaga (7-9) gave up a long homer to Amed Rosario in the fourth and a drive to Spencer Jones in the fifth. But he didn’t get the support this time after the Cubs combined to outscore the Twins and Pirates 21-1 in his previous two starts.
‘‘I feel like right now I’m thinking about a lot of things where I had come up with a game plan against their hitters [and] the hitters come up with a game plan against me,’’ Imanaga said through an interpreter. ‘‘Do I go with my game plan or see what they’re doing and make those adjustments according to what they seem like their game plan is? And just thinking about what adjustments I need to do for each start or each inning.’’
Warren (8-5) held the Cubs to four hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out seven, walked none and retired 12 batters in a row before Alex Bregman and Happ chased him with back-to-back singles in the seventh. Paul Blackburn got Nico Hoerner to ground into a force to end that threat.
Pedro Ramirez singled with one out in the ninth against David Bednar, but Michael Busch flied out and Bregman grounded out to end the game.
Imanaga retired the first 11 batters he faced before Rosario launched a 450-foot drive to center. Jones made it 2-0 with a drive to right an inning later. Imanaga has allowed 24 homers this season.
Imanaga left to cheers in the seventh after retiring Trent Grisham on a fly ball for the second out.
Tyler Ferguson then got three outs before exiting with two on in the eighth. Maine East graduate Antoine Kelly, making his major-league debut after being called up from Triple-A Iowa, struck out slugger Ben Rice to end that threat and pitched around a walk in the ninth.
Kelly said he only had his parents, girlfriend, uncle and agent on hand, rather than a large group of friends and family, because ‘‘it was so last-minute.’’
He also admitted he wasn’t a Cubs or White Sox fan growing up. His team? The Brewers.
‘‘It’s probably really bad to say,’’ he said. ‘‘Big Brewers guy.’’
