Rain limits another strong start by Imanaga
Shota Imanaga's second major league start was cut short due to the rain delay, but it went just as well as his first. Maybe even better considering the opponent.
Imanaga shut out the Dodgers for 4 innings Sunday. Through two starts, he's pitched 10 innings, allowed no runs, no walks and 4 hits, with 12 strikeouts.
“It's just a job well done and mother nature got in the way of it, but he pitched really well,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “His pitch count (43) was certainly in a position for him to get deeper in the game today, but the rain just didn't allow it.”
In the first inning, Imanaga struck out Shohei Ohtani in an epic nine-pitch at-bat. They both played in the Japanese leagues in 2016 and '17, and were teammates in the World Baseball Classic, but Imanaga said that was the first time he had ever faced Ohtani. Knowing the wind was blowing in, Imanaga decided to challenge the two-time MVP inside.
“I just threw a fastball inside and if he does make contact, the wind would probably help me,” Imanaga said through a translator. “When he stood in the box, he's very tall and he has a presence about him and he has a really good swing.”
Ohtani hit a double and triple later in the game, after Imanaga had left the mound. In the three-game series, his first at Wrigley Field, Ohtani went 6-for-13 with 2 doubles, a triple and home run.
The past two games were the Dodgers' lowest-scoring outputs of the season, with 4 and 1 runs.
Rainy Sundays
Before the nearly three-hour rain delay Sunday, the game was played in a steady downpour, with frequent breaks for the Cubs grounds crew to spread several dozen bags of Turface to dry the infield.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts complained a few times to umpires and third baseman Miguel Rojas joined in after he slipped and fell coming out of the batter's box on a ground ball.
Umpires finally called for the tarp after the Dodgers' third error of the game, a throwing miscue by Rojas, in the bottom of the fourth.
“I think everyone was in agreement that we wanted to try to squeeze in five, knowing the conditions weren't going to be ideal,” Roberts said after the game. “I just didn't like in that fourth inning to stop the game right there once we'd already faced a couple batters. Then the field sort of became unplayable.”
The videoboard at Wrigley Field showed the Iowa-South Carolina women's championship game during much of the delay.
Around the horn
Before the game, the Cubs placed reliever Julian Merryweather on the 15-day disabled list with a right shoulder strain and brought up right-hander Daniel Palencia from Iowa. Palencia tossed the final 3 innings of Sunday's game to earn a save. Manager Craig Counsell said Merryweather's injury is a rhomboid muscle strain and the right-hander will get imaging Monday. …
Pitcher Jameson Taillon allowed 3 earned runs, 6 hits and struck out 4 in 2 ⅔ innings during his first rehab start at Double A Tennessee on Sunday. … Patrick Wisdom went 2-for-2 with a walk in his second rehab start for Triple A Iowa.
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