Say it ain’t Shota: Imanaga struggles as Cubs lose to Mets
Maybe there was some clarity gained Thursday in the Cubs pitching plan for the playoffs, but it was skewed toward the negative side.
Shota Imanaga's final start of the regular season was his worst. He was tagged with 8 earned runs in 5⅔ innings as the Cubs lost the series finale to the New York Mets 8-5 at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs are officially locked into a wild-card series against the San Diego Padres, but the location remains undecided. The Cubs' magic number remained at two to clinch home field, which means any combination of Cubs wins and Padres losses adding up to at least two puts the entire three-game series at Wrigley Field beginning Tuesday.
The Cubs host the Cardinals this weekend, while San Diego is home against Arizona.
The best performing Cubs starting pitchers lately, by a wide margin, are Cade Horton and Jameson Taillon, both right-handers. Then it would be a choice between Imanaga, Matthew Boyd and Colin Rea if there's a Game 3 needed.
Throwing left-handers at the Padres is one potential strategy. Overall, there's not a huge difference in arm side. San Diego is 19th in OPS vs. lefties (.684), 18th in OPS vs. righties (.717).
Outfielder and leadoff man Fernando Tatis Jr. is a right-handed hitter who doesn't hit lefties well. Tatis plus left-handed hitters Gavin Sheets and Jake Cronenworth have combined for 44 home runs against right-handed pitchers this season, compared to 9 against lefties.
It's just hard to trust Imanaga now that he's given up 12 home runs over his last six starts. Boyd, another left-hander, hasn't been sharp the past two months, but he would get more than a week of rest before pitching in the playoffs.
Imanaga's ERA in the month of September is 6.51. Boyd is at 5.31, with Rea, who will start Friday, at 3.32.
“Look, Shota has to execute,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “That's been his story and he is really good at executing. That means every pitch has to be executed. Fastballs down for Shota are not going to be good results. So he's got to execute pitches.”
One positive from this game was Seiya Suzuki hit two home runs, giving him 29 for the season, and drove in 4 of the 5 Cubs runs.
“Looking at the playoffs, if you perform well, people will remember it,” Imanaga said. “If you don't, the season's almost a waste. I feel with me and Seiya, I want to look back and think about we had a great playoffs.”
Horton is still dealing with a back or rib cage issue that forced him out of Tuesday's start after three innings. The plan is for him to see another doctor soon, but Counsell thinks everything is progressing well.
“There's some areas of concern in the ribs, (based on) the MRI,” Counsell said. “We're going to continue to get more information on it and see where that leads us. But right now, Cade is a go. He's going to start throwing again (Friday).
“He's adamant he can go pitch. We just want to make sure we've got all the information before he goes out there.”
Outfielder Kyle Tucker took live batting practice against Ryan Brasier before Thursday's game. Tucker appears to be on track to return from a calf strain and serve as designated hitter Friday. He's been out since Sept. 2.
If Tucker is healthy, it doesn't seem likely that Moises Ballesteros would start a playoff game, but Counsell confirmed the rookie is helping his cause with his late-season performance. Ballesteros leads the Cubs in OPS in September and doubled in Thursday's game.
This one began with a strange play in the top of the first inning. With runners on second and third, Mark Vientos hit a foul pop-up behind third base. Both Matt Shaw and Dansby Swanson chased it, they collided and Swanson caught the ball right in front of the wall. He then fell backward into the netting, flipped the ball between his legs to Shaw, who threw a strike to apparently nail Francisco Lindor at the plate for an inning-ending double play.
Umpires ruled the ball left the field of play, since Swanson ended up in the front row of seats. So the run counted and Brandon Nimmo followed with an RBI single to make it 2-0.
“In the end, it's the umpire's judgment,” Counsell said. “Was he in the stands? He's not in the stands because there's a net there. His butt's on the railing. But in (umpire D.J. Reyburn's) opinion, he was in the stands.”