Shota Imanaga goes six in defeating Pirates

Imanaga surrendered a solo homer to Adley Rutschman while striking out the side during an abbreviated 12-pitch outing at Tropicana Field to close out the regular season. The 33-year-old southpaw wraps up a strong bounce-back campaign with a 3.77 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 174/37 K/BB ratio across 174 1/3 innings to finish as a borderline top-30 fantasy starter. He’s established himself as a reliable high-volume fantasy contributor in an era where few starters are consistently eclipsing 170 innings. He figures to be available in relief during Chicago’s upcoming NL Wild Card Series matchup against the Padres.

Imanaga gave up four hits, walked none and struck out seven. Having likely made his last start of the season, Imanaga will finish with a 3.74 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 171 strikeouts and 11 wins. Imanaga won 15 games with a 2.91 ERA in rookie 2024 campaign, but hasn’t been able to repeat those numbers over the last two seasons.

Imanaga had a special feel for his splitter in this one. He was commanding it very well in the early innings, so he continued to push its usage up as the game wore on. On the season, he’s thrown it 34% of the time. In this game, it was at a nearly 50% usage rate and forced an eye-popping 14 swings-and-misses. That’s tied for the third-most whiffs from that pitch in a single outing this season and each of the top three marks have come in the last month. He’s incredibly difficult to hit when that pitch is toppling over like it has been lately and he’s scheduled to face the Marlins next week in his regular season finale.

He allowed just three hits and didn’t walk anybody, the Cubs pulled him after a leadoff single in the seventh. The splitter was working for him tonight, as he got a career-high 17 whiffs with it. It’s largely just a game of if Imanaga’s stuff will get hit over the fence, and the Marlins didn’t manage to do so. Over his five August starts, Imanaga allowed 10 homers and had a 5.96 ERA. This is more like it. Too bad he can’t pitch in cavernous loanDepot park every day. Instead, he’ll pitch against the Brewers next week in a dicey matchup.

Imanaga followed up three scoreless innings by giving up a three-run homer to Héctor Rodríguez in the fourth. He then allowed two more homers with his velocity having diminished in the fifth. Imanaga, now 8-10 with a 4.01 ERA on the season, just isn’t at his best right now, and the Cubs could give him some extra rest with rosters expanding. As is, he’s due to face the Marlins on Saturday.

Imanaga labored over his two innings, needing a whopping 72 pitches to get his six outs. The southpaw gave up a leadoff homer to Randy Arozarena, and then an error by Carson Kelly in the second allowed the second run to cross. It’s the second time in three starts that Imanaga has scuffled, with a 10-strikeout effort against the White Sox sandwiched between. Imanaga will get the chance to rebound against the Reds on Saturday.

Imanaga allowed just two hits, but the second was a three-run homer from Randal Grichuk that followed a walk and Miguel Vargas’s single in the fourth. He did go on to reach double figures in strikeouts for the third time this season. He ranks 20th in the majors with his 140 strikeouts, and he’s 15th among ERA qualifiers with a 1.09 WHIP.

Imanaga couldn’t keep the ball in the park, as he allowed three homers before being pulled with two outs in the fifth inning. The 32-year-old has been dominant since the start of July, and this was his first outing where he allowed more than three runs since June 24. These things happen, and Imanaga is a good bounceback candidate for Sunday’s scheduled start against the Cardinals.

The run came on Shohei Ohtani’s homer to lead off the first. Imanaga allowed seven more hits afterwards, but they were all singles, and he didn’t walk anyone. He has a 1.21 ERA in his last five starts, though two of those produced losses anyway. He’ll face the Nationals next week.

Imananga allowed just two other hits besides the dingers and walked none. He’s managed a 2.41 ERA in 41 innings over his last seven starts after a brief swoon in late May and early June. He allowed only four hard-hit balls, but when two of them go over the fence and your team gives you zero runs of support, it’s unideal. Imananga will draw the Dodgers next week in a start that feels a little scary.