You know you’re awesome when you give up one earned run in 6.1 innings and your ERA actually goes up. Shōta Imanaga continued his amazing start to his MLB career and he keeps rewriting Cubs record books. Imanaga did it again following his latest gem against the Boston Red Sox Friday night.
The left-handed pitcher surrendered a solo home run to Tyler O’Neill in the fourth inning and that was it as Imanaga cruised to his fourth victory of the season, helping the Cubs take the series opener 7-1 at Fenway Park. Imanaga was locating his fastball to perfection, which is becoming the norm for him. He struck out seven and only walked one batter, while allowing just five hits, the home run and four singles, two of which were infield hits down the third base line.
So far the league has not adjusted to Imanaga.
Here are Imanaga’s numbers through his first five starts with the Cubs.
Imanaga’s current 0.98 ERA ranks as the second-best ERA among all qualified MLB starting pitchers, trailing Atlanta Braves righty Reynaldo Lopez, who is at a 0.72 ERA in 25 innings.
Here’s Imanaga’s newest Cubs record. His 0.98 ERA through his first career five starts is the lowest in franchise history dating back to 1912, which is when the earned run became an official MLB stat.
And there’s no doubt that it would be lower if there hadn’t been a rain delay on April 7, when Imanaga pitched four shutout innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers, absolutely dominating them before Mother Nature stepped in and cut his start short at Wrigley Field.
That brings us to the next feat Imanaga has accomplished. Unfortunately, because that start against the Dodgers was only four innings, Imanaga didn’t qualify for the win, but after getting the W on Friday night against the Red Sox, the Japanese lefty is now only one of four pitchers in Cubs history to earn four wins through their first five career starts.
Last time it happened was in 1958.
I know that there are going to be starts this season when Imanaga gets burned with the home run ball, but so far he’s doing exactly what the Cubs have asked of him. The biggest concern was that his fastball would be crushed because he frequently threw it lower in the zone during his time in Japan and with MLB hitters geared more toward launch angle, well that’s the wheelhouse for them.
So, after giving up some home runs in spring training, Imanaga has been focusing on locating his fastball up in the zone and now that’s one of the most dominant pitches in the league.
Imanaga got five swinging strikeouts with his fastball against the Red Sox oh and in case you forgot his splitter is nasty too.
Shōta Imanaga, the “throwing philosopher,” really is living up to his nickname so far with the Cubs.
