Cubs’ Shota Imanaga hits his first bump in the road

MILWAUKEE – Speaking to the media after his first rough outing of the season, Shota Imanaga made a point to apologize to Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell for “not having it today.”

But statistically speaking, it was inevitable that a night like this would come. 

After posting a 0.84 ERA across his first nine starts in the majors — a mark that bested Fernando Valenzuela’s torrid start to the 1981 season — Imanaga gave up seven earned runs over 4 1/3 innings in a 10-6 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday at American Family Field.

“Look, he’s been historically good. And this is a tough league, and a good team got him tonight,” Counsell said.

Most of the damage was done in the third inning, when the Brewers strung together five hits, including a Blake Perkins home run, for a five-run frame. In the first, Imanaga gave up a leadoff single to Joey Ortiz and then Christian Yelich punched a first-pitch fastball deep into the seats in right field.

Three of Milwaukee’s five hits in the third inning came on Imanaga’s splitter, a pitch he said he had trouble locating Wednesday night. 

“They were making adjustments, and I didn’t have [the] consistency today to throw it at the top of the zone,” Imanaga said via interpreter Edwin Stanberry.

Headed into Wednesday’s start, Imanaga had been holding batters to a .224 average and getting a nearly 46 percent whiff rate on his splitter. At an average of 83.2 mph, Imanaga’s splitter comes in almost 9 mph slower than his four-seamer.

This difference in speed had made for an effective combo in keeping batters off balance. Imanaga’s overall chase (36.1 percent) and whiff rate (31.4 percent) speak to how difficult he had been on opposing hitters.

And the results have been there. That includes ultra-low ERA, of course, but his barrel rate (7.0 percent) also ranked in the 59th percentile in baseball, and his strikeout rate (27.8 percent) in the 80th percentile. Imanaga didn’t need to overpower hitters with an upper-90s fastball because they were struggling to make effective contact.

The Brewers’ lineup, though, got plenty of good contact and was going after Imanaga’s stuff early; in the first inning, Ortiz’s leadoff double came on the third pitch of the at-bat, and Yelich saw just one pitch that he hit for a homer. In the third inning, Willy Adames’ RBI single and Perkins’ two-run homer were both on first-pitch splitters.

“They were definitely aggressive,” Counsell said. “I thought at points he made pitches in the bad part of the plate, and at points they took some good swings.”

Imanaga had waited 10 days between starts, his last happening on May 18 against the Pirates at Wrigley Field. He had been slated to start against the Cardinals in St. Louis last Friday, but that game was rained out and postponed until July 13. The long layoff was not a factor in Wednesday’s struggles, according to Imanaga. 

“The past 10 days were good for recovery,” he said. “I got my training in, and I felt good, but unfortunately today it wasn’t there.”

The inevitability of a seven-run outing was something Imanaga was mentally prepared for. He is an eight-year veteran of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, and he came into his first season in the U.S. knowing there would be days like Wednesday.

“I just want to reflect on it. There could possibly be games where they score even more runs,” Imanaga said. “Emotionally, physically, there might be tougher situations, so I just want to reflect and move forward.”

The Cubs are 28-28 and 4 1/2 games behind the Brewers in the standings — with the surging Cardinals right there with them. If not for Imanaga’s historic start to the season, the Cubs’ situation might be much different. 

As Imanaga has been shoving on the mound, the Cubs’ offense has struggled to score while looking for a breakout. Going into Wednesday’s game, they ranked 17th in the majors with 234 runs scored, and their team OPS (.673) was 23rd in baseball. In many ways, Imanaga has kept the Cubs in contention, so he’d earned a lot of grace in the clubhouse for one bad start.

“Obviously, he’s been unbelievable,” Ian Happ said. “I don’t know what the lowest ERA was over the last 10 years, but it was impossible for him to sustain that number. This day was coming, it was going to happen. 

“He’ll learn from it, he’ll move on, figure out what was a little bit different today and come back the next start and be good.”

As for Imanaga’s apology to Counsell, the Cubs manager likely won’t find it necessary. Sooner or later, Imanaga’s 0.84 ERA was going to move up some. After Wednesday, it’s still just 1.86, which is the third-lowest in baseball.

“The historic start is over, but the great start is still here,” Counsell said. “Nothing changes from my perspective. He’s been a joy to watch, he’s been a huge part of us getting a bunch of wins, and I look forward to him going out there again.”

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