Imanaga, PCA impressive in win over Red Sox
David Butler - USA Today Sports

Imanaga, PCA impressive in win over Red Sox
by - Senior Writer - Sat Apr 27 08:49:38 GMT-04:00 2024

BOSTON - The best part of the new MLB schedule that was introduced in 2023 is that every team will play every team at least once during a season. That means no more waiting three years to see a specific team or even longer if you have to go back to a specific stadium.

The Chicago Cubs (17-9) and the Boston Red Sox (14-13) have been waiting a long time to meet in Fenway Park. The Cubs were in Boston for the first time since 2017. However, the last time the Cubs were in town, the Red Sox handled them across that three-game series and then played them tough at Wrigley Field last season.

Despite this team's injuries, they continue to find ways to win, which was again the case in this one. Led by the young guns including Shota Imanaga on the mound, it was the Cubs winning their fourth consecutive game 7-1 as they are now a season-high eight games above .500. When you look at the body of work Imanaga has done so far, he is making a great case to be the rookie of the month as he is a perfect 4-0 this season with a 0.98 ERA.

Imanaga is the first pitcher since 1945 to go 4-0 with an ERA below one in his first five career starts in the big leagues.

Imanaga gave the Cubs 7 1/3 inning in this one, allowing just one run on five hits while striking out seven. Keegan Thompson took care of the rest, as he has not allowed a run since returning to the Cubs. When you look at the pitching matchups in this series, many people have the Red Sox winning two of three. A big reason for that was that two of the starters in this series have been some of the best in baseball, including Friday's starter, Kutter Crawford.

Entering the game with a sub 1.00 ERA, Crawford learned firsthand how difficult this Cubs lineup can be to get through. Sure, he gave Boston six innings, but he allowed four runs (3ER) on 10 hits as his ERA rose to 1.35. Chicago made their presence felt immediately as they came out swinging in the top half of the second inning.

Michael Busch started things off with a double before singles from Dansby Swanson and Matt Mervis gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead. That was the first hit of the season for Mervis, as he continues to get more playing time than last season. One day after picking up his first career hit, Pete Crow-Armstrong was at it again as he added an RBI single later in the inning to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead.

Considering that Imanaga retired the first nine hitters he faced in order, you had to think two runs would be enough, especially with the Cubs continuing to put traffic on the bases. Chicago continued to keep that pressure on with another Swanson single leading off the fourth, while a costly error put a pair of runners on the corners and one out. PCA then showed off the other element of his game and dropped down a perfectly placed bunt to push the Cubs lead to 3-0.

For the most part, Imanaga has been nothing short of amazing to begin his MLB career, but one area of concern will continue to be discussed. This is a guy who lives up in the zone and, at some point, will be prone to give up homers. He allowed his first homer of the season in his last start, and Tyler O'Neill made it two starts in a row as his eighth homer put the Red Sox on the board. That was the lone run Imanaga would allow, as he had the Red Sox guessing most of the night.

Not to be outdone, the Cubs continued to hit Crawford hard in the fifth, with Mike Tauchman and Ian Happ leading things off with a pair of singles. Two batters later, Busch came through with a sacrifice fly as the Cubs got their run back to take a 4-1 lead. This was a much-needed performance for Busch, who has been stuck in a long slump but has been a better hitter away from Wrigley Field this season.

Apart from the O'Neill homer, the Red Sox didn't have many scoring chances, but they did have one in the sixth as they looked to keep things close. Singles from O'Neill and Connor Wong kept the pressure on Imanaga, but as he has done so often this season, the lefty pitched out of trouble to keep the Red Sox offense at bay.

For as good as the Cubs offense has been this season, one thing they need to work on is scoring late in games. They have one of the best offenses over the first five innings, but also one of the worst from the sixth inning on. If they want to continue winning at the pace they have with all these injuries, they need to figure out how to deliver late in games.

This was a great step in the right direction as the Cubs tacked on three runs against Joely Rodriguez to push their lead to 7-1. Tauchman started things off with a walk before coming around to score on the Christopher Morel single.

Following another Busch single, Patrick Wisdom picked a great time to deliver as his two-run double closed out the scoring with the Cubs now in front 7-1.

Imanaga did come out for the seventh, but after two hitters, he was lifted in favor of Thompson, who got the game to the ninth without any damage.

Then came the ninth, when Thompson ran into trouble for the first time this season. A one-out single from Pablo Reyes was just the beginning as the Enmanuel Valdez double put runners on second and third. Thompson buckled down and stranded both runners as the Cubs continued to roll with another strong performance.

With 14 hits, the Cubs offense was locked in as Busch led the way with three hits and an RBI. Morel, PCA, and Swanson had multi-hit games for the Cubs, with PCA and Wisdom adding two RBIs.

“I feel like we all knew and believed we had a really good team," Swanson said after the win. "Maybe this was the best way to show it. It’s unfortunate with the injuries, but we can do this. That’s why we’re the Chicago Cubs, it’s a total group effort.”

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