The Cubs got yet another dazzling performance from Shōta Imanaga, and turned on the power in this rain-delayed win.
Sunday’s weather forecast in Chicago was pretty dire — rain for most of the day, and I’ll have some further thoughts later — but it ended mid-afternoon in time for the game to begin with a two hour, 20 minute delay.
It was worth the wait to see Shōta Imanaga put together yet another outstanding start. The Cubs added three homers and shut out the Nationals 5-0 on eight hits.
After Imanaga retired the Nats 1-2-3 in the first, the Cubs wasted no time getting on the board. Mike Tauchman sent a 2-0 fastball off the right-field video board [VIDEO].
Dansby Swanson followed the homer with a walk, stole second and scored on this single by Seiya Suzuki [VIDEO].
Imanaga allowed a two-out single in the second, then retired seven of the next eight Nats before the Cubs played long ball again in the bottom of the fourth, this one by Michael Busch, his 21st [VIDEO].
Isaac Paredes walked, but was erased on a double play. Pete Crow-Armstrong then also walked, and Miguel Amaya made it a 5-0 Cubs lead with his eighth homer of the year [VIDEO].
Amaya also doubled in this game, nice to see as he’s been in a bit of a slump lately.
After that it was all Shōta. He allowed a could of hits in the fifth, one more in the sixth and another in the seventh, but pitched his way out of all of those jams, finishing seven shutout innings on 94 pitches (67 strikes). He didn’t walk anyone and struck out four. Here’s a review of Imanaga’s outing [VIDEO].
Also on Imanaga’s start, from BCB’s JohnW53:
This was Shota Imanaga’s fourth start of the year in which he pitched at least seven innings and gave up no runs. Justin Steele has done it twice; Ben Brown, Kyle Hendricks and Jameson Taillon, once. All were exactly seven innings.
This was the 21st start by a Cub this year of at least five innings and no runs. Imanaga has seven of them; Taillon, four; Javier Assad and Steele, three; Hayden Wesneski,two; and Brown and Hendricks, one.
With one out in the top of the eighth, after two Nats singled off Ethan Roberts, Joey Gallo appeared to hit a ground-rule double into the seats in right field {VIDEO].
As you can see in the clip, Craig Counsell went out for discussion — weird, because that’s reviewable, why not just ask for a review? That’s what eventually happened, and the ball was ruled foul [VIDEO].
Roberts eventually struck out Gallo and finished the inning without further incident.
Trey Wingenter was summoned to throw the ninth — guess Counsell wanted to save all his leverage relievers for the Phillies series. He threw a 1-2-3 inning, but not until Keibert Ruiz worked an eight-pitch at-bat before grounding out.
So the Cubs took three of four from the Nats on the weekend and completed a 4-3 homestand. They’re 42-36 at Wrigley this year with three games remaining. More on Cubs vs. Nats from BCB’s JohnW53:
Today’s game was the Cubs’ 647th against the Expos/Nationals. It was the 37th time the Cubs have shut them out, but the first since Aug. 25, 2010, by 4-0 at Washington. This was their 89th game since then.
The Cubs had not blanked them at home since a 5-0 one-hitter by Sean Marshall and three relievers on May 17, 2006. This was the 57th game at Wrigley since then.
……….
With the win today, the Cubs finished the season 6-1 vs. the Nationals. That ties for their best winning percentage in the rivalry, which goes back to 1969, when the Nationals began as the Montreal Expos. The Cubs also were 6-1 in 2007. This is the eighth time the Cubs have gone 6-1 vs. a team outside their division. They were 7-0 vs. the Mets in 2015 and 6-0 vs. the Braves in 2008 and Phillies in 2022.
A couple more notes: Ian Happ was in the original lineup today, both the one sent out on Twitter by the Cubs and actually announced at the ballpark about 15 minutes before the first pitch. Then he was scratched and replaced by Patrick Wisdom in left. with Tauchman taking the leadoff spot. Here’s what happened:
Ian Happ experienced some low back tightness before the game, which is why he was a late scratch after the rain delay, according to Cubs manager Craig Counsell.
Happ is day to day.
— Ryan Herrera (@ryan_a_herrera) September 22, 2024
Gotta imagine the weather had something to do with that. Hope he’s okay.
And… about the weather. Sure, the game was completed after it stopped raining and the delay of two hours, 20 minutes was longish, but not the longest even this year. That wasn’t too bad.
This forecast was known on Friday — that it was basically going to rain all morning and much of the afternoon. Why not push the starting time back? It could have been announced Friday, say, for 4:05. That would have meant players, fans, gameday staff could have all arrived later. This has been done before. I wish MLB — who was in charge of this today — would have more consideration for players, gameday staff and fans. It seems to me that they just don’t care.
Okay, off the soapbox and on to the Cubs’ final road series of 2024, against the Phillies in Philadelphia. The Phillies are playing the Mets this evening and if they win, they clinch the NL East title. But the Phillies still do have something to play for, as they could still finish with the NL’s best record. At this writing the Cubs do not have a starter listed for Monday’s series opener, though it could wind up being Justin Steele. The Phillies will go with Aaron Nola for Monday’s game. Game time is 5:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.