Shota shines with 7 scoreless innings as Cubs win 10th straight at Wrigley Field

Shota Imanaga is back to his 2024 form.

The Cubs need him to stay that way.

Imanaga threw seven scoreless innings, striking out five and walking one in the Cubs’ 2-0 win Saturday over the Diamondbacks. Benefiting from the Cubs’ strong defense, Imanaga helped the Cubs win their 10th straight at Wrigley Field for the first time since 2008.

“If I’d pick anywhere to win it would be here because we have 80 games here,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “We’re playing good baseball. Simple as that.”

The winning streak is nice, but the Cubs have bigger goals than a double-digit run spanning April and May. They view themselves as a National League contender and a team with a legitimate chance to win big in October.

To do that, the Cubs’ rotation will need to overcome what’s happened in the first month. Cade Horton is gone for the year after tearing up his elbow and Justin Steele’s return is unclear due to a setback in his recovery from his own 2025 elbow injury.

“That’s the beauty of this group, too,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “It’s just really that mentality that no one’s going to feel sorry for us, that we have injuries at key spots and we have guys that continue to step up.”

Yes, the Cubs have proven starters in Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon, Edward Cabrera and Colin Rea. All those arms have done their part and helped the Cubs to a fast, 21-12 start.

A strong Imanaga raises the group’s ceiling and buys the front office time before needing to bolster the rotation.

“This is who Shota is,” said Cubs left fielder Ian Happ, who homered in the second inning and was a single short of the cycle. “The second half of last season was more of coming off injury and some other things than the actual version of Shota.”

To end the 2025 season, Imanaga had arguably turned into a liability. Perhaps bothered by a hamstring injury that could have impacted his mechanics, Imanaga was a different pitcher than the one who became a fan favorite and a contender for the 2024 National League rookie of the year award.

Over the last three months of the season, Imanaga gave up 24 home runs and pitched to a 4.36 ERA. His playoffs didn’t go much better, allowing three home runs over 6 2/3 innings.

Imanaga and the Cubs then looked headed for a divorce. Both he and the Cubs declined their contract options for 2026, though the Cubs did give him a $22.025 million qualifying offer.

Imanaga accepted the offer in November. So far, it looks like a tidy bit of business for both sides. The 32-year-old lefty has allowed one run or fewer in five of his seven starts and he lowered his ERA to 2.40.

“We saw this guy in ’24 and how good he can be,” Happ said. “He’s done a great job of continuing to grow in this league. He learned from last year.”

One thing Imanaga is learning is how to use Wrigley Field to his advantage.

On Saturday, the wind blew steadily from right to left. Imanaga made sure to avoid letting right-handed hitters do damage to their pull side because those drives had a chance to go out. Against lefties, he was more aggressive inside the zone.

The plan, obviously, worked. More importantly, the Cubs got another indication that Imanaga will be a useful part of a rotation that’s already taken hits.

“The manager, the pitching coaches have expectations for us,” Imanaga said through a translator. “All I’m trying to do is meet those high expectations.”