The Cubs lefthander picked up where he left off in May.
The Cubs completed the first half of the 2025 season with their 81st game Thursday, and ended that first half with a victory, 3-0 over the Cardinals, earning a series split. Five Cubs pitchers held the Cardinals to just three hits.
Before I get to the recap of this game, I want to note that the Cubs finished said first half with a 48-33 record. If they repeat that over the next 81 games, that’ll be a 96-win season, the best for the team since they won 103 in 2016, and doing that should result in an NL Central title.
“As always, we await developments.”
Now, on to the details of this crisply-played win.
The Cubs got on the board first, in the top of the second. With two out, Michael Busch homered, his 13th [VIDEO].
From BCB’s JohnW53:
Michael Busch’s home run was the 36th of his career, at his 16th ballpark. It was his first at the park that shares his name.
We were told later on the Marquee broadcast that this was the first time anyone named Busch (or Bush) had ever homered at any of the St. Louis stadiums named Busch (and there have been three of them!).
The Cubs extended their lead to 2-0 in the fourth. With one out, Busch, Carson Kelly and Nico Hoerner all singled, loading the bases. Matt Shaw hit a solid line drive that was nabbed by Nolan Arenado, but that was followed by Ian Happ drawing this walk, forcing in a run [VIDEO].
While all this was going on, Imanaga was dealing. He threw 77 pitches (49 strikes) and allowed just one hit, while striking out three. Here are some highlights from Shōta’s return [VIDEO].
And, here’s more on Shōta’s outing [VIDEO].
I can’t emphasize enough how much it means to the Cubs rotation to have Imanaga back. He raises the level of performance of the entire rotation. And, with the off day Monday, he’ll get extra rest before his next start, which likely comes next Wednesday at Wrigley Field against the Guardians.
Caleb Thielbar relieved Imanaga and threw a 1-2-3 sixth, followed by retiring the first hitter in the seventh. Then Brad Keller entered and got himself in a jam with a couple of walks. A force play followed, and then this sliding catch by Pete Crow-Armstrong ended the inning [VIDEO].
In the eighth, PCA led off with a single and Dansby Swanson singled him to third. After Busch popped up, Swanson took off for second and hung up the play long enough for PCA to score [VIDEO].
Because a caught stealing was recorded on Swanson on that play, PCA doesn’t get credit for a stolen base. He simply scores on the CS.
Drew Pomeranz threw the eighth. He allowed a one-out single but otherwise got through the inning scoreless.
Daniel Palencia entered the game in the ninth for the save opportunity. It didn’t start well, as Alec Burleson doubled and Palencia hit Willson Contreras with a pitch, confirmed on review.
He recovered by striking out the next three hitters, including getting Nolan Gorman on this nasty slider to end the game [VIDEO].
Before Wednesday and Thursday, the last time the Cubs threw back-to-back shutouts was Sept. 27 and 28, 2024, against the Reds at Wrigley Field. The last time they did it on the road was July 10 and 11, 2024, at Baltimore. And the last time in St. Louis? June 9 and 10, 1984. That was a pretty good year for the Cubs, as I recall. More on shutouts in St. Louis from BCB’s JohnW53:
The games last night and today were only the 11th time since 1901 that the Cubs have shut out the Cardinals in back-to-back games, and just the fourth time at St. Louis.
They had not done it in St. Louis since June 9-10, 1984, at the previous Busch Stadium. They won the first game by 5-0 and the second by 2-0. In the first, Rich Bordi gave up four his and walked three in seven innings, then Lee Smith walked one in the final two.In the second, Chuck Rainey gave up five hits and walked four in seven innings, then Smith walked one again in the final two.
The game today was the 2,395th between the teams since 1901.
Credit to Thielbar, Keller, Pomeranz and Palencia for throwing four shutout innings and allowing two hits, two walks and striking out four. The bullpen, which had a rough weekend against the Mariners, appears to have righted the ship.
Before I wrap this recap, I want to revisit a play from Wednesday’s game that was discussed here briefly earlier. In the fifth inning, Busch bounced a ball in front of the plate [VIDEO].
The play was ruled an error on Cardinals catcher Yohel Pozo. During Thursday’s broadcast, Boog and JD said this had been changed to a hit. Except… at this writing, the MLB.com boxscore and the baseball-reference.com boxscore both list this play as an error on Pozo.
Perhaps this is in the process of being changed and those will be updated. But as of now, that’s still not a hit for Busch.
Anyway, onward. The Cubs increased their NL Central lead over the Brewers to three games, as Milwaukee was idle Thursday, and lead the Cardinals by 4½ games.
The Cubs travel to Houston to open a three-game series against the AL West-leading Astros Friday evening. Cade Horton will start for the Cubs and lefthander Brandon Walter goes for Houston. Game time Friday is 7:10 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.