The Pittsburgh Pirates faced Chicago Cubs ace Shota Imanaga for the fourth time in his career on Saturday, and it didn’t go much better than the previous three times.
While the Pirates did score their first run off Imanaga on a fourth-inning solo shot by Tommy Pham, that was all they got. The Cubs lefty held Pittsburgh to one run on three hits and two walks over seven innings, striking out six in Chicago’s 3-1 victory at Wrigley Field. He threw 57 of his 85 pitches for strikes in his latest gem, improving his ERA to 3.06 and his WHIP to 0.95 this season.
Imanaga has dominated the Pirates over his first two seasons in the Major Leagues, allowing just one run and 13 hits over 26 innings in four career starts against them — two of which have come this season.
Pittsburgh is still trying to solve the All-Star lefty, who’s been one of the best pitchers in baseball since coming over from Japan last year. Over his first 47 MLB starts, he’s 23-8 with a 2.96 ERA, a 1.00 WHIP and 259 strikeouts in 276 1/3 innings, making him comparable to Paul Skenes. In other words, the Pirates aren’t the only team still trying to figure him out.
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Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, Imanaga will likely be with the Cubs for the next few years, so he probably isn’t leaving the National League Central anytime soon.
On the plus side, the Pirates are slowly becoming more familiar with Imanaga, so they might be able to hit him eventually. They may get another crack at him in mid-September when Chicago visits PNC Park for the season’s final series between these two teams. If not, they’ll have to wait until next year.
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