Shota Imanaga tied a career hjgh with ten strikeouts in the Cubs 7-3 victory.
CHICAGO- Shota Imanaga only allowed five runs in his first nine career starts and was the early jewel for the National League Rookie of the Year. With a little less than two months left in the regular season and barring a massive setback, Pittsburgh Pirates phenom Paul Skenes is looking like the odds-on favorite to win the award but that doesn't take away from what Imanaga has been able to achieve in his first MLB campaign.
Imanaga scratched his ninth win of the year in the Cubs 7-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins in front of 36,653 on a cool evening at The Friendly Confines.
In his 13th quality start, Imanaga only allowed two hits and two runs while walking one and tying a career high with ten strikeouts through seven innings. He now sports a 9-2 record with a 3.06 ERA in 21 starts and has 128 strikeouts versus 18 walks which results in a 7.1 K/BB ratio that ranks second in baseball.
"Shota was outstanding. The strikeouts were a big indication for sure. I mean there very few balls hit hard today even. I thought he pitched wonderfully and seven strong innings getting deep in the game like that helps us out at the tail end of this long stretch here," said Cubs manager Craig Counsell.
Imanaga has continued to make the necessary adjustments while giving the Cubs a chance to win a ballgame almost every time he's taken the bump. The Cubs are 17-4 when Imanaga starts & he's part of a pitching staff that has posted a 3.25 ERA (112 earned runs/310 innings pitched) which is the second lowest in the National League since June 27.
"With the splitter, I felt like people were making the adjustments against it so I wasn't getting as many swing and misses. But with the second half, I feel like I've been working on it and figured something out and I'm able to throw it for swing and misses and getting strikeouts with it," he said through his interpreter Edwin Stanberry.
Imanaga was able to settle in as the Cubs jumped on the Twins early. Isaac Parades registered his first home run in Cubbie pinstripes in the bottom of 1 to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead. Parades added his 4th RBI of the night in the bottom of 3 with a single scoring Michael Busch from first base.
Parades was 3 for 27 since joining the Cubs before his two hit evening tonight. He acknowledged his slow was due to trying to impress his teammates and just trying to do too much.
"I'm just trying to take it day by day," Parades said through interpreter Freddy Quevedo. "Just trying to get back to the player I was and that's ultimately what my teammates have helped me with. The support is helping me get back to being who I was before I got into a little bit of a slump so my teammates have been there to support me in just trying to play my game and I'm really thankful."
The Twins quickly cut the lead in half as their 2017 first overall pick Royce Lewis smacked a two-run home run in the top of 4. Minnesota threatened in the top of 6 after second baseman Brooks Lee led off with a double off the glove of Pete Crow-Armstrong but Imanaga retired Manuel Margot (K) Carlos Santana (5-3) and Royce Lewis (6-3) to end the frame.
The Cubs added some insurance in the bottom of 6 as a wind assisted triple by Dansby Swanson scored Nico Hoerner and a wild pitch by Twins reliever Randy Dobnak scored Swanson to push the Cubs lead back to 4. Minnesota catcher Christian Vazquez cut the Cubs lead to 3 with a solo home run in the top of 8 but the Cubs struck right back in the bottom of 8 on a Crow-Armstrong single scoring Nico Hoerner.
The Cubs can win their ninth home series of the year in the rubber match tomorrow afternoon. It'll be Javier Assad (5-3/3.19 ERA) for the Cubs versus Joe Ryan (7-7/3.59 ERA) for the Twins. First pitch is 1:20.
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