04/26/24 10:01:00
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04/26 21:58 CDT Shota Imanaga continues impressive MLB start, raising record to
4-0 as Cubs beat Red Sox 7-1
Shota Imanaga continues impressive MLB start, raising record to 4-0 as Cubs
beat Red Sox 7-1
By KEN POWTAK
Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) --- Shota Imanaga continued an impressive start to his major league
career by pitching one-run ball into the seventh inning to lead the Chicago
Cubs to a 7-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Friday night.
Signed to a $53 million, four-year deal during the offseason after an
eight-year, professional career in Japan, the 30-year-old Imanaga (4-0) beat
Boston right-hander Kutter Crawford in a matchup of two pitchers with
impressive ERAs.
"Just more of the same," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said of his left-hander.
"Just attacking the strike zone. Again, No. 1, just in the strike zone. That's
how he pitches every single time. ... By being in the strike zone so much you
start to get hitters that start to get aggressive on him, and then he's getting
some quick outs."
Coming off a three-game sweep at Wrigley Field over the Astros, the Cubs rode a
two-hit, two-RBI night by rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong for their fifth win in six
games. Patrick Wisdom added a pinch-hit, two-run double.
Tyler O'Neill hit his eighth homer for the Red Sox, who fell to 3-8 in Fenway
Park.
Imanaga held Boston's offense, which has struggled at home and came in hitting
just .198 in Fenway, to five hits with seven strikeouts and a walk over 6 1/3
innings, raising his ERA slightly to 0.98.
"I did have one walk, but I was able to attack the zone," he said through a
team translator.
Boston manager Alex Cora said before the game that the Red Sox had a video chat
with him before he signed with Chicago.
"There's things I can talk about and things I can't talk about," Imanaga said.
'We talked about the kind of pitches I throw and how unique it is in MLB, and
how I can use those pitches."
Of joining the Cubs over Boston he said: "It was really just me and talking to
other guys around me, I came to a decision and I can't really talk about that."
Crow-Armstrong got his first MLB hit, a tiebreaking two-run homer on Thursday
that snapped a 0-for-16 start to his career.
Crawford (1-1) gave up four runs, three earned, on 10 hits over six innings,
raising his ERA to 1.35 from a major league best 0.66.
"I can't have my head down after an outing like this," he said. "My main goal
every time I take that ball is to try and throw as many strikes as possible and
attack hitters. I feel like when I look back at this outing I was able to do
that."
He allowed two runs on four hits in the second --- both more than he has
totaled in four of his previous five starts this season --- when Chicago
grabbed a 2-0 edge. He had not given up more than a run in each of his other
starts.
Matt Mervis had an RBI single and Crow-Armstrong added a run-scoring single
after Cora won a challenge that he wasn't hit by a pitch, forcing him back to
the plate.
Crow-Armstrong's safety squeeze scored Dansby Swanson, making it 3-0 in the
fourth. Swanson held about halfway down the line before breaking to the plate
when Crawford turned his back and threw to first.
After breezing through the first 10 batters, Imanaga gave up O'Neill's homer
into the center field bleachers.
The lefty worked up in the zone --- sometimes just out of it --- with a
fastball in the low 90 mph range and down with a sharp splitter.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Cubs: Counsell had very little update on outfielder Cody Bellinger, who
fractured two ribs crashing into a wall on Tuesday that landed him on the
10-day injured list a day later. "We've just got to get Cody symptom-free here,
then we'll go onto the next steps. That's where we're at right now," he said.
Red Sox: Cora said 2B Vaughn Grissom (out since spring training with a left
hamstring injury) is scheduled to play nine innings on a rehab assignment with
Triple-A Worcester on Saturday and Sunday in what could be "the last hurdle,
probably" before he makes his season and Boston debut. ... RHP Nick Pivetta (IL
since April 6 with a flexor strain of his pitching elbow) is scheduled to throw
live BP off the Fenway mound on Saturday.
UP NEXT
Cubs: They haven't announced a starter for Saturday yet.
Red Sox: RHP Josh Winckowski (1-1, 4.20 ERA) is scheduled to start the second
of the three-game series.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
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