Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga (31) has gotten a taste of the big leagues’ high walls.
Imanaga allowed three runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts in six innings of work against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California, on April 28. The Cubs won 5-3 in extra innings.
Imanaga, who threw 93 pitches, used a mix of four-seamers (66), splitters (19), sweepers (6), and curveballs (2) against San Francisco hitters. His fastball topped out at 94.6 mph (152.2 km/h) and his splitter had a 29% swinging strike rate. He dominated the San Francisco bats with a no-hitter through five innings, but gave up three runs in the sixth.
Imanaga is a veteran left-hander with a 64-50 record and a 3.18 ERA in 165 games (1002⅔ innings) over eight seasons (2016-2023) in Nippon Professional Baseball. He signed a four-year, $53 million contract with the Cubs this offseason. He started the season with a dominant performance that earned him the National League Rookie of the Month award for April.
Imanaga began to falter in June,
However, with a loss at Milwaukee on May 30 in which he gave up seven runs on eight hits (two homers) and one walk while striking out seven in 4 1/3 innings, and is now 2-1 with a 5.67 ERA in five June starts (27 innings). On June 22 against the Mets, he pitched his worst outing of his major league career, allowing 10 runs on 11 hits (three homers) with one walk and three strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings.
Imanaga, who is 7-2 with a 3.07 ERA in 15 games (85 innings) this season, lowered his ERA to 0.84 on March 19, 실시간 바카라사이트 but has since lost his dominance and his ERA has soared to 3.07 in six games.
According to Japanese media outlet The Junichi Shimbun, “Cubs pitcher Imanaga did not get the win in his start against the Giants, allowing three runs in six innings. He allowed one hit and no runs through the fifth inning, but gave up three runs in the sixth. The team went on to win 5-3 in extra innings,” Imanaga pitched.
In his post-game interview,
Imanaga said, “I gave up three runs in the sixth inning. I think I could have thought about it a little more, and I made a mistake. In my previous outing, I felt that I wasn’t in a favorable place to beat my opponent without throwing my best pitches. I didn’t forget that reflection, and today I kept throwing my best pitches and tried to see if I could keep it up until the middle of the game.” “I reflected on why I was trying to stop him at 80% when I hadn’t accomplished anything here yet. I was overconfident in myself. It was a real lesson for me that if I don’t use as much effort as I did today, it doesn’t work,” he added.
“It was a good lesson for me,” said Imanaga, who added, “If I don’t pitch like I did today, I won’t be able to be on par with my opponent. The past week was very anxious. I’ll be anxious for my next start. What he told me in the spring training meeting was right. If you get hit, you just have to get up. It’s not bad to get punched. He said it’s important to get up next time. This week was a pretty tough week because I got punched so much, but I hope they can see that I’m willing to get back up.”