Shōta Imanaga is pitching like the ace everyone hoped he would be.
Imanaga threw seven outstanding innings (and one batter into the eighth, and that inning led to the Cubs’ undoing), the third time this year he’s thrown seven. But Phil Maton could not hold a 1-1 tie together and the Cubs lost to the Braves for the second straight night, 4-1.
It wasn’t just Maton’s failure, either. The Cubs again didn’t generate much offense, just four hits and a single run. From BCB’s JohnW53:
The Cubs have made a total
of 13 hits in their four straight losses: five, three, one and four.
Since 1901, they have made fewer in four consecutive games only once: 12, April 4-7, 2021: three, five, one and three. They won the first two games of that span, 4-3 over the Pirates and 5-3 over the Brewers, then lost to the Brewers, 4-0 and 4-2, the last game in 10 innings.
This is just the fourth time the Cubs managed only 13 hits in four games. The earlier three all were more than a century ago: Sept. 3-4, 1905 (back-to-back doubleheaders); Sept. 28-Oct. 1, 1912; and Aug. 4-6, 1920 (doubleheader last day). The Cubs won one of the games in 1905 and lost all four in 1912 and 1920.
Let’s go back to the beginning of this frustrating loss.
The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the fourth, when Drake Baldwin homered off Imanaga. That shouldn’t be a game-killer; a solo home run that early isn’t the worst thing in the world. And in 54.1 innings this season, Imanaga has allowed only five home runs, four of them solo.
The Cubs managed to tie the game up in the top of the fifth. Carson Kelly led off with a single and advanced to second on a ground out. Dansby Swanson walked and the Braves replaced starter JR Ritchie with reliever Tyler Kinley.
Nico Hoerner singled off Kinley to make it 1-1 [VIDEO].
A note on Nico’s RBI hit:
That’s where the game stayed through seven innings. Imanaga was allowed to start the eighth because left-handed hitter Michael Harris II was the leadoff hitter. Imanaga ran the count to 3-1 on Harris, who then broke his bat on a weak contact grounder to Nico.
That’s a play Hoerner makes 999 times out of 1,000. Unfortunately, that was the 1,000th time. (Also, how is that not an error on Nico?)
Maton replaced Imanaga and allowed a single to Ha-Seong Kim, then struck out Dominic Smith. Mike Yastrzemski batted for José Azocar and doubled in Harris, but Kim was thrown out at the plate by Pete Crow-Armstrong and Swanson [VIDEO].
At 2-1, this game might still have been within reach, but Maton then served up a home-run ball to Mauricio Dubón to make it 4-1 and the way the Cubs bats have been going, it might as well have been 40-1. The Cubs did get a leadoff walk from Michael Busch in the ninth off Raisel Iglesias, but Iglesias then got Michael Conforto to hit into a double play, and PCA popped up to end the game.
Holding the Braves, who lead MLB in runs, to five runs Tuesday and four runs Wednesday isn’t too bad. But the Cubs offense has simply gone missing on this road trip and, well, they’re going to have to find it pretty soon. The other teams in the NL Central all lost Wednesday, so the Cubs still lead the division by 2.5 games over the Brewers and Cardinals.
A couple of notes on Imanaga’s outing from John:
Imanaga’s seven innings plus one batter is the longest start by a Cub this season.
He had pitched 7.0 twice; Edward Cabrera and Jameson Taillon, once.
Imanaga gave up no runs and one run in his previous two, with four and three hits. He struck out five and one. In this one: five hits, no walks, six strikeouts.
Imanaga now has six quality starts. Cabrera has four; Taillon, three; and Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton and Colin Rea, one each, for a total 15 in 43 games.
Here’s a bit more on Shōta’s pitch selection [VIDEO].
Imanaga struck out six [VIDEO].
Imanaga’s 59 strikeouts are third in the National League behind Jacob Misiorowski (80) and Cristopher Sánchez (67).
Here are some postgame comments from Craig Counsell [VIDEO].
The series finale, on paper, is the toughest pitching matchup. Ben Brown will make his second start of 2026 for the Cubs. Last time out, against the Rangers last Friday, he was really good (four no-hit innings). Hopefully that continues. The Cubs will have to try to get the offense rolling against Chris Sale. Game time is again 6:15 p.m. CT and TV coverage wil be via Marquee Sports Network (and streaming on Peacock, the Braves broadcast, outside the Cubs and Braves market territories).
