Things couldn’t have gone much better for the Chicago Cubs on Monday afternoon.
Prized free agent starting pitcher Shota Imanga was masterful in his Major League Baseball debut. The 30-year-old left-hander took a no-hitter into the 6th inning before Colorado’s Charlie Blackmon ripped a single to centerfield. In all, Imanaga allowed no runs on two hits and struck out nine in his debut.
Not too bad. Not too bad, at all.
Cubbies fans had to have known that Imanga was locked in even before the first pitch of Chicago’s home opener.
Imanaga took the mound at Wrigley Field sans a long sleeve shirt under his uniform jersey. The weather at first pitch: 45-degrees with a 13-MPH wind. That type of mentality will play well in the city of Chicago. Imanaga used only 12 pitches –including his first Major League Baseball strikeout– to sit the Rockies down in order.
First @MLB strikeout for Shota Imanaga!
今永投手、メジャー初奪三振！ pic.twitter.com/0aLXADpUQ7
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 1, 2024
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From there it was on.
Imanaga kept the Rox off balance mixing his fastball with a combination of equally unhittable sinkers, sliders, and splitters. His fastball wasn’t overpowering, he topped out at 93.7 MPH according to StatCast. He also threw the occasional change up just to keep the Colorado hitters guessing. Imanaga was particularly impressive with his splitter. Of his 20 swings and misses, 12 came off of the splitter for a remarkable 80% miss rate.
In short, it was a pitching masterpiece. Almost John Smoltz-like.
Shota Imanaga had a stellar first outing as a MLB pitcher.
He generated 20 swings and misses. 12 of those came on his split, which had an 80% miss rate.
Check out all 9 of his Ks below
#YouHaveToSeeIt pic.twitter.com/y57SMqFj6X
— Inside Edge (@IE_MLB) April 1, 2024
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The rest of his teammates did their part to get Imanaga his first MLB “W.” In the home half of the 6th inning, third baseman Christopher Morel ripped a single to left field, scoring Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki. Morel was able to circle the bases on the same play due to a throwing error by Colorado left fielder Nolan Jones. The returning Cody Bellinger added two more insurance runs in the 7th inning with a 2-RBI single to right to make it 5-0 Cubs.
Imanaga’s next start will likely come this upcoming weekend when the Los Angeles Dodgers visit “The Friendly Confines” for a three-game set. There’s potential for an Imanaga versus Yoshinobu Yamamoto matchup depending on how LA handles their rotation.
Now, that would be some “must see TV!”
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