Paredes shows off power in Cubs win over Twins |
CHICAGO—Any time you get traded midseason from one team to another, there tends to be a learning curve to settle in. That has been the case for Isaac Paredes since arriving on the Northside, as the Chicago Cubs (56-60) third baseman has struggled to find his footing with his new team.
It was only a matter of time before he broke out, which happened to be the case against the Minnesota Twins (63-49) Tuesday night at Wrigley Field. Not only did Paredes connect for his first Chicago Cubs homer in the first, but he drove in four to single-handedly outscore the Twins. Pair that with another dominating Shota Imanaga start, and the Cubs took care of business 7-3. By now, the secret is out on Imanaga, as he has been the bonafide Ace of the Cubs staff this season. The rookie left-hander is 9-2 on the season with an ERA just north of 3.00, but perhaps the most important number is that the Cubs are now 17-4 in the games he starts. Anytime you can go out and give your team a chance to win, it's a good thing, and with 10 strikeouts across seven dominating innings, Imanaga put his team in a position to win against a very good Twins lineup. Shota's 10 K day. 🎥 #YouHaveToSeeIt pic.twitter.com/Fe4nh2Ax6e Not only do the Twins have a terrific lineup, but the Cubs had to face the hard-throwing Pablo Lopez, who is having a down season this year. Down year or not, Lopez has all the tools to be a front-line starter, but after striking out two in five innings and allowing four runs, his struggles continued. All four of the runs he allowed came off Paredes's bat, and they came on back-to-back plate appearances. Three of those runs came on his first at-bat in the first, as Paredes followed up a pair of singles from Cody Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki by putting one in the basket for his first Chicago Cubs homer, putting the Cubs in front 3-0. Isaac Paredes with his 1st home run as a Cub 💣 pic.twitter.com/l9sZpD050W “The way the wind was blowing today, you’re not thinking three-run homers,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said after the win. “And just for Isaac, just to get a big hit on the board, absolutely, it made everybody feel good.” They would never look back as Paredes added his fourth RBI of the game in his next plate appearance as an RBI single extended the Cubs lead to 4-0 through three as that hit will go down as the game-winning hit. With Paredes carrying the load offensively early on, you had Imanaga doing his part on the mound as he retired the first 10 hitters he faced, with six of them coming via the strikeout. That streak ended in the fourth as a one-out Carlos Santana walk gave Minnesota their first baserunner of the game. A few pitches later, the no-hitter went away as the rookie Royce Lewis touched up Imanaga for a two-run blast to pull the Twins within 4-2. Imanaga recovered nicely following that homer and retired the next five he faced and eight of the next nine as the Twins had no answers for him. After settling down after his shaky start, Lopez was removed from the game after five innings and replaced by Randy Dobnak. Immediately following the pitching change, Paredes reached base on a leadoff walk before being erased on a fielder's choice. That set the stage for Dansby Swanson, who took one the other way for an RBI triple to extend the Cubs' lead to 5-2. Swanson has been one of the Cubs' best hitters since the All-Star break, which is a nice sight when you consider how his season has gone. Swanson would later come in to score on a wild pitch during that sixth inning to push their lead to 6-2. Most of the time, six runs would be enough to win a game, but with an offense like the Twins, no lead is safe unless you add on, as they pulled within 6-3 in the eighth off a Chrisitan Vazquez homer against Drew Smyly. Smyly bounced back to retire the next two hitters to get out of the eighth, as that was the final run of the game for the Twins. Despite having the game in control heading into the bottom of the eighth, the Cubs continued to add on as a trio of singles from Hoerner, Swanson and Pete Crow-Armstrong pushed across another run as the PCA single extended the Cubs lead to 7-3. That proved to be the final run of the game for either side as Tyson Miller entered the game to pitch the ninth and took care of business to secure the Cubs win. The Cubs improve to 17-4 in Shota Imanaga starts! pic.twitter.com/y7lONGf888 Chicago had 11 hits in the game as Swanson led the way with three hits and an RBI. Paredes and Hoerner also added two hits, but it was the four RBIs from Paredes that proved to be the difference. The Cubs will now go for the Series win on Wednesday as they turn to Javier Assad on the mound as he will face off against Joe Ryan. Cubs goin' up on a Tuesday 🕺 “He was outstanding.” "The amount of times she's pretty much made me cry over the last two weeks watching her is pretty ridiculous. Just so proud of her."
Paredes: 2-for-3, HR, BB, 4 RBI
Swanson: 3-for-4, RBI, R
Imanaga: 7 IP, 2 H, 10 K pic.twitter.com/q74zWZqEcU
Craig Counsell gives praise to Shota Imanaga after 7 strong innings. pic.twitter.com/GRnozZ62pB
Dansby Swanson is proud of his wife Mallory 💙 pic.twitter.com/MdDBiLtm8i
