Two of the best runs in baseball came to an end on Wednesday night as the Chicago Cubs fell to the Milwaukee Brewers, 10-6. Shota Imanaga suffered his first MLB loss. The Cubs lost for just the second time in a game he started. It hurt to fall further behind the Brewers in the division, but what’s more painful is the cost it came by.
The beginning of the end could be traced back to last Friday night. The game between the Cubs and Cardinals in St. Louis was postponed due to rain. Imanaga was the scheduled starter for the game. Instead of pushing the rotation back one day and having him start on Saturday, Cubs Manager Craig Counsell elected to skip his start entirely in the rotation. This ended up giving him ten consecutive days off.
Imanaga was battered for seven runs on eight hits in 4.1 innings pitched. He allowed two home runs and struck out just one batter. After the game, Counsell explained how the extra rest for Imanaga had good intentions. In Japan, the teams have six-man rotations, as opposed to MLB’s normality of five. Counsell wanted to ensure Imanaga’s long-term health was at the forefront of his decision-making, and the rainout presented an opportunity to rest him longer than usual. Unfortunately, the rest proved to bring rust. Counsell said MLB is a tough league, and a good team got to Imanaga and the Cubs on Wednesday.
But the loss didn’t just temporarily pause Imanaga’s momentum. It also ended another impressive run by the Cubs’ starting rotation against their rivals to the north.
Brewers’ Scoreless Streak Against Cubs’ Starters Is Over
Entering Wednesday night, the Milwaukee Brewers had gone five games without being able to score a run against a Cubs starter. It was just the fifth time since 1901 that a team’s rotation was able to blank their opponent five consecutive times. Additionally, it was the first time this instance occurred with two division foes. Altogether, it was 32.1 straight innings of scoreless baseball for the Cubs’ rotation to start 2024 against the Brewers.
That all came to an end quickly as Imanaga was jumped by the Brewers’ offensive attack early. The Cubs attempted to rally late, but the damage was done in the first four innings.
The beginning of the season for Imanaga was sensational, of the likes we haven’t seen in a long time (or really ever before). But even after giving up seven runs, his earned run average is still under two. The Cubs’ rotation as a whole still owns one of the best ERAs in baseball. There’s no reason why Imanaga and the Cubs cannot start another couple of streaks as soon as Thursday afternoon.
Imanaga’s next start is scheduled for June 4th at home against the Chicago White Sox. This will be his introduction to Chicago’s Crosstown Cup. After Thursday afternoon, the Cubs will not see the Brewers again until June 28th, when they return to Milwaukee for a three-game weekend series.
