MILWAUKEE — Left-hander Shota Imanaga stood hunched over with his hands on his knees as he waited for a trainer to run out to him in the sixth inning of the Cubs’ 4-0 loss to the Brewers on Sunday at American Family Field.
The rotation was dealt another blow as Imanaga limped off the field, nursing what the team identified as a strained left hamstring. He likely will undergo imaging to get a clearer picture of the severity of the injury, manager Craig Counsell said.
“I’m at the point where I don’t know what exactly is going on, don’t know what the damage is,” Imanaga said after the game through Japanese interpreter Edwin Stanberry.
Imanaga hurt his hamstring running from the mound to cover first base on a double-play attempt when the Brewers’ Christian Yelich hit a grounder to Cubs first baseman Michael Busch.
With one out and runners taking off from first and second, Busch nabbed the runner heading to second, but Yelich beat the throw to first.
Imanaga stepped off the bag and grabbed the back of his left leg, grimacing. He bounced a throw home to keep the Brewers’ Jackson Chourio at third.
Once the play was over, Counsell and a trainer had a short conversation with Imanaga before leading him off the field. Imanaga walked with a noticeable limp.
“It’s the first time it’s ever happened,” Imanaga said of the injury. “So I can’t really tell how bad it is.”
Imanaga also left his start Tuesday in Pittsburgh in the sixth inning, with cramping in his quadriceps. But he bounced back and remained on a regular schedule for his start against the Brewers.
“This week, my body physically has felt really good,” Imanaga said. “Even before the game, it felt amazing. And hydration, everything included, felt great. So there was no sign of [any issue with] the back of my leg before the game or anything like that. So I’m in shock.”
Counsell wouldn’t say definitively that Imanaga was headed to the injured list, citing the need to gather more information before making the decision.
“He’s never had any lower-body muscle strains, so he’s a little unsure of what the feeling means,” Counsell said. “But he felt something, for sure.”
The Cubs already have had to weather left-hander Justin Steele’s season-ending elbow surgery, with veteran right-hander Colin Rea performing admirably as his replacement. They had expected right-hander Javier Assad to return from the IL and replenish the team’s starting depth until he re-strained his left oblique in a rehab start almost two weeks ago.
Asked if top pitching prospect Cade Horton, who has a 1.17 ERA in Triple-A this season, would be an option if Imanaga went on the IL, Counsell said the team was “not even close” to surveying backup plans.
Other options include Chris Flexen, who was starting for Triple-A Iowa before the Cubs called him up to join the bullpen, and lefty Jordan Wicks, who’s on the 40-man roster and has major-league starting experience. However, he allowed seven runs in 2⅔ innings in his last start for Iowa.
The Cubs and Brewers were still locked in a scoreless tie when Imanaga exited with two runners on and two outs. The game quickly unraveled when right-hander Julian Merryweather took over on short notice.
The Brewers scored four runs, two of which were charged to Imanaga, before Joey Ortiz lined out to end the inning.
The Cubs were shut out for just the second time this season.