Left-hander Shota Imanaga has been a highlight of an otherwise-disappointing Cubs season. Signed in January, he has been the team’s most consistent starter, has emerged as a fan favorite and earned a nod as a National League All-Star.
To rally for an NL wild-card spot and salvage the season, the Cubs will need Imanaga to remain a dependable part of their rotation through the end of September and maybe beyond.
He thinks he can do that.
‘‘Physically, as long as I’m feeling good, yes,’’ Imanaga said after the Cubs’ 1-0 loss Sunday to the Blue Jays. ‘‘Watching the position players, they get ready every single day. As a starting pitcher, I throw once every five, once every six days. Seeing the position [players], they’ve been going out there every single day, and they’re not complaining. So I can’t, either.
‘‘I’m just going to try my best and continue to go out there.’’
Sunday was Imanaga’s 23rd start of the season. After allowing only a second-inning home run to Joey Loperfido in five innings, Imanaga has pitched 133⅓ innings. He pitched 148 innings last year in Japan, and his career high is 170 in 2019.
But there are different demands on major-leaguers compared to players in Japan. The travel is harder across a much bigger country, and the caliber of opponents is better. The Japanese season lasts only 144 games and has more days off built into the calendar than the MLB schedule.
The Cubs hope the transition won’t take a toll on Imanaga when they need him most. And they definitely need him for the homestretch, given that they trail the Braves by 5œ games for the last NL wild-card spot with three teams between them.
‘‘In terms of today, my body felt a little heavier,’’ Imanaga said. ‘‘I wasn’t moving as well as I wanted to. But in terms of comparing it to last year, my body feels good. I don’t have any pain anywhere; nothing hurts. My goal is to try to do the best I can, depending on how I feel that day, and go from there.’’
Sunday wasn’t Imanaga’s best day. Though he got through the first inning without giving up a run, he needed 31 pitches to do so.
‘‘The first inning kind of cost Shota some pitches, for sure,’’ manager Craig Counsell said. ‘‘They did a nice job in the first inning [of] extending some at-bats and fouling off some pitches, getting some long at-bats. It was [31 pitches] in the first inning, which probably took an inning from him.’’
Imanaga managed to get through the fifth, but he needed 97 pitches. Despite the slow start, he still got 15 swings-and-misses and walked only one. It was the eighth start in a row in which he walked one batter or fewer.
The pitch he threw on Loperfido’s homer didn’t seem to bother him that much. The result wasn’t great, but Imanaga credited the hitter.
Loperfido got on top of a 90 mph fastball that was above the top of the strike zone. On a day when the wind knocked down pretty much everything else, Loperfido’s ball landed in the basket in the right-field corner.
‘‘If [that pitch] was in the zone, maybe I’d be a little more frustrated,’’ Imanaga said. ‘‘It was a ball, and the approach against the hitters was to try to go up in the zone. The fact that he hit that out, you’ve got to tip your cap.’’
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