Chicago Cubs' Shota Imanaga Part of Exclusive Group in Baseball History with Latest Performance
While he was far from perfect on Saturday night, Chicago Cubs' pitcher Shota Imanaga did enough to register his second big league win against the Seattle Mariners. Furthermore, the 30-year-old joined an exclusive group in baseball history.
The Chicago Cubs beat the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night, 4-1, to even up the three-game weekend series.
The Cubs got solo home runs from Michael Busch, Seiya Suzuki and Miguel Amaya in the win as they moved to 8-6 on the young season.
Furthermore, they got another win on the mound from rookie Shota Imanaga, who went 5.1 innings, allowing just one unearned run. He wasn't perfect, walking two and dancing in and out of trouble, but he struck out four and got the job done.
After signing a multi-year deal this offseason, the 30-year-old Japanese import is now 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA. He's joined an exclusive group in baseball history with his efforts.
Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com:
4+ IP and 0 ER in each of 1st 3 career starts, since ER official in both leagues (1913):
2024 Shota Imanaga
2023 Andrew Abbott
2021 Luis Gil
1915 Bernie Boland
Imanaga has struck out 16 in 15.1 innings thus far and has helped steady a rotation that is currently without both Justin Steele and James Taillon. Furthermore, the team also lost Marcus Stroman in the offseason. He has just a 0.72 WHIP and has proven to be hard to hit with a mid-90s fastball and a solid splitter.
The Cubs and Mariners will play each other again on Sunday afternoon. First pitch from T-Mobile Park is set for 4:10 p.m. ET as Javier Assad (1-0, 1.64 ERA) pitches for Chicago. Luis Castillo, the Opening Day starter for Seattle, gets the ball on the other side. He's 0-3 with a 6.89 ERA out of the gate.
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