This series wasn’t going to be easy, we all knew that before it began.
And when Shōta Imanaga had a 32-pitch first inning in which he allowed a pair of walks and three runs, that made the Cubs’ task that much more difficult.
That, and the fact that the Cubs again had RISP issues, going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving 12 men on base, led to a 6-0 loss to the Dodgers, and the home-standing L.A. team took the series.
The first two Cubs got on base, Nico Hoerner on a single and Alex
Bregman by walk, but they were stranded when Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki struck out and Carson Kelly grounded out.
Then the Dodgers worked those three runs off Imanaga in the bottom of the inning, the key hit a two-run double by Miguel Rojas.
The Cubs again had a chance in the second inning, when Michael Busch led off with a double. One out later, Matt Shaw walked. The runners moved up to second and third on a wild pitch, an excellent scoring opportunity with just one out, and Pete Crow-Armstrong then walked to load the bases.
But Nico Hoerner then struck out, losing an ABS challenge in doing so. Nico thought he had walked, and look how close this pitch was for strike 2 [VIDEO].
The Cubs would have had a run if Nico had just laid off the next pitch, which would have been ball 4, but he swung and missed:
Sigh. Alex Bregman then grounded out to end the inning.
The Cubs did play some good defense in this game. Here’s PCA taking an extra-base hit away from Teoscar Hernández in the third [VIDEO].
Imanaga settled down through the fifth inning, keeping the score at 3-0. Suzuki gave Imanaga some defensive help [VIDEO].
Suzuki also made a nice sliding catch in the fifth [VIDEO].
The Dodgers extended the lead to 4-0 in the sixth on an RBI single by Dalton Rushing, and that was it for Imanaga, who threw 100 pitches, striking out six. He also walked three, which is unusual for him. More from BCB’s JohnW53:
This was only the fifth of Imanaga’s 60 career starts in which he walked at least three batters. The last was April 15 of last year. He walked four only once, on Opening Day of last season vs. the Dodgers in Tokyo. This was his 29th start since then.
Here’s more on Imanaga’s outing [VIDEO].
The Dodgers scored a fifth run in that sixth inning, charged to Imanaga, on a throwing error by Kelly. And they added a sixth run, in the seventh, on a solo homer by Shohei Ohtani.
Yacksel Rios, another of Jed Hoyer’s minor-league signings over the winter, threw two scoreless innings of relief, his first MLB appearance since he posted a 37.80 (!) ERA for the A’s in 2023. At this point the Cubs will take any sort of relief help they can get. Rios likely gets DFA when Phil Maton is ready to return, I’d think.
Here’s a second nice grab by Suzuki [VIDEO].
PCA also made a second good catch in this game, in the eighth [VIDEO].
So at least the Cubs outfield defense is still doing its job.
All told, the pitching wasn’t great, but the Cubs also missed several good scoring opportunities in leaving those 12 runners on base. Beyond that I don’t have much more to say about this one — just hoping the Cubs can start taking better advantage of the scoring opportunities that they have actually had. One last note on all those runners from John:
The Cubs had played only 17 previous games since 1901 in which they were shut out and left at least 12 runners on base in a nine-inning game.
The most recent of those had been Aug. 22, 2011, in a 3-0 loss to the Braves at home. The Cubs left 15, tying the record for their most in such a game, set in the first of its kind, at Boston on May 11, 1905.
The last on the road before Sunday had been vs. the Braves, too, by 2-0 at Atlanta on June 22, 2009. They had a dozen LOB that day.
Until Sunday, the Cubs never had been blanked by the Dodgers, home or road, while stranding at least 12.
Besides the two games with 15, there had been six with 13 and nine with 12.
The Reds also lost Sunday (as did the Cardinals and Brewers, the latter of whom lost to the Pirates), so the Cubs remain one game out of first place in the NL Central.
The Cubs head to San Diego to play a three-game series against the Padres beginning Monday evening. Matthew Boyd will start the series opener for the Cubs and Randy Vasquez will go for San Diego. Game time Monday is 8:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
