Swanson, Imanaga shine in win over A's |
CHICAGO—With just 13 games left in the 2024 regular season, the Chicago Cubs (77-73) will be scoreboard-watching from here on out. Although not mathematically eliminated yet, the Cubs have a ton of ground to make up, as they entered play on Monday five games out of the final Wild Card Spot.
For this team to even be in a position to have a chance during the final week of the season, they need to take care of business over the next seven games at Wrigley Field, and that all started with the Oakland Athletics (65-86) on Monday. Backed by another impressive offensive showing that saw the Cubs score five times in the second inning, Shota Imanaga took care of the rest as the Cubs took down the A's 9-2. Had this been a normal season in which a guy like Paul Skenes didn't make his MLB debut, you would think that Imanaga would be the front-runner to win the NL Rookie of the Year award. All the left-hander has done since joining the Cubs is dominate, as he is sitting at 14-3 this season while posting a 3.03 ERA. That is good for the top five in the National League, and with the Cubs going 22-6 in his 28 stars, he is the MVP of the 2024 season. What makes his season that much more impressive is that Imanaga has the success he has by being a fly ball pitcher, which is a rarity in today's game. Approaching a career-high in innings, which he should pass later this week, Imanaga has gotten better as the season has gone on as he delivered another strong six-inning start, allowing two runs and striking out a career-high 11. Imanaga also walked three, which was just the third time this season that he had walked more than two hitters in a game. While Imanaga is a Rookie, he is an older rookie, which can't be said about the A's and their rotation. Currently starting three rookies, Joey Estes is one of those rookies, and at 22 years old, he is the youngest of the group. Like Imanaga, Estes is a fly ball pitcher with the lowest ground ball rate in baseball, but with the wind blowing out, being a fly ball pitcher isn't what you want to be. Despite the Cubs dominating Oakland from start to finish, Oakland did have a chance to strike first, with Jacob Wilson delivering a leadoff triple before being stranded at third. Whenever you have Imanaga on the ropes, you need to capitalize, and the Cubs made sure to make the A's pay not for scoring first. All it took for the Cubs to grab the lead was a nice two-out rally as Seiya Suzuki, Cody Bellinger, and Isaac Paredes all came through with singles, only to have the Paredes single put the Cubs in front for good 1-0. Paredes puts us up one! pic.twitter.com/k754yfAltV It was a lead they would never give up and a lead the Cubs began to blow open in the second as they pushed across five runs to open an early 6-0 lead. Once again, it was the singles that led to the Cubs success, as Nico Hoerner, and Pete Crow-Armstrong started the inning off with a pair of singles. That was followed by singles from Miguel Amaya and Ian Happ as the Cubs extended their lead to 3-0, and still threatening. The big blow of the inning came from Dansby Swanson, who took an Estes offering into the left field bleachers as the Cubs broke things open 6-0. Baaang! Dansby Swanson for 3! 💥 pic.twitter.com/t6mDv8zVLs The lone runs of the game for Oakland came in the third inning and came from a player who should be getting more MVP consideration than he is. Once again, it was the top of the Oakland lineup, giving Imanaga fits as Wilson worked a leadoff walk to reach base for the second time in as many at-bats. One batter later, Brent Rooker got in on the action as he muscled one out to right for his 38th homer and cut the Cubs lead to 6-2. Homers have been an issue for Imanaga all season, as 60% of the runs off him this season have come from the lone ball. Take that away, and he was about as good as you can be as he got through six innings with no further damage while striking out a career-high 11, with eight of those coming from the third inning on. You had to see The Sho. pic.twitter.com/L93ehstEqf Not about to let the early lead they built get away, the Cubs offense continued to go to work on what has typically been a very good Oakland pen. With Hogan Harris now on the mound, the speed from the bottom of the Cubs order created a problem as leadoff Nico Hoerner's walk was followed by a husting Pete Crow-Armstrong double as the Cubs had two one-out. Miguel Amaya kept the line moving with another RBI single to make things 7-2 before Swanson connected for his fourth RBI in three at-bats with an additional RBI single as the Cubs built up an 8-2 lead. The Cubs managed to close out the scoring in the fourth as Bellinger led the inning off with a triple before trotting home on another Paredes single. It was all about the pitching after the fourth inning, as neither team found a way to get any more runs across home. Brandon Bielak deserves a ton of credit for the job he did for Oakland, as he went four scoreless innings out of the pen to keep the Cubs bats in check. With Imanaga done after six, Craig Counsell elected to go with a pair of arms who have yet to get much action as Trey Wingenter tossed two scoreless innings before Jack Neely took over in the ninth to finish off the Cubs 9-2 win. Good to be back at [W]rigley! pic.twitter.com/5RLyVOEpbq After earning National League Player of the Week honors, Michael Busch had a rough night at the dish as he was the only Cub player without a hit. Chicago managed to pound out 18 hits in the win, with Suzuki and Paredes leading the way with three. Feels good to be home 💙 “Seeing all the flags around there … it feels really great to see there’s a lot of compatriots out there.” “There’s no question he’s having a heck of a season.”
Swanson: HR, 4 RBI, R
Paredes: 3-for-4, 2 RBI
Amaya: 3-for-4, 3B, 2 RBI, R pic.twitter.com/Y7hzd1ZmOv
Isaac Paredes on the representation at Wrigley Field at the Hispanic and Latino Heritage Celebration. pic.twitter.com/eTVG19OJQe
Craig Counsell on Shota Imanaga’s rookie year. pic.twitter.com/Z4ClUCc54I
