CINCINNATI – Shota Imanaga gave up another home run Friday night.
It’s nothing new.
The Cubs’ lefty starter has allowed 22 homers, more than all but one pitcher in baseball this season.
He’s been unable to shake that bad habit, bringing up memories of how costly his home-run problem was last postseason, when he allowed three long balls in just 6 2/3 innings of playoff work against the Padres and Brewers.
The Cubs, though, will choose to look at the positives Imanaga has delivered for an ailing pitching staff.
He wrapped up his first half with his 19th start of the season in Friday’s 4-0 Cubs loss, the most on the team. His 108 innings are tops on the Cubs’ staff, as well. That work has been a godsend for a rotation otherwise ravaged by injuries.
“Shota’s been throwing the ball well,” manager Craig Counsell said before Friday’s game. “He had that little three-start stretch where it didn’t go so well. But him and Colin [Rea] have been the guys who have been able to take the ball every fifth day, and we’ve obviously needed that.”
“I take a lot of honor in being able to go out there every fifth day, sixth day,” Imanaga said through an interpreter after the game. “I learned in the last three years how difficult it is. Obviously, the results are the results, but going out every fifth, sixth day and taking the ball and pitching, that is really difficult. So I do take a lot of pride in that.”
At least from a results perspective, that bumpy stretch lasted four starts, in which Imanaga allowed 26 runs and 12 homers in 21 2/3 innings.
But both before (a 2.32 ERA in nine starts) and after (a 2.81 ERA in six starts since), he’s looked like the top-of-the-rotation arm the Cubs have desperately needed him to be.
With righty Cade Horton done for the season and righty Ben Brown perhaps unlikely to start again this year, the Cubs need someone to fill the ace role.
Lefty Matthew Boyd is an obvious in-house choice. There’s the potential for trade-deadline additions, though No. 1 pitchers have a tendency to come with massive price tags, something Jed Hoyer’s front office shied away from as recently as last summer.
So why not Imanaga?
Maybe that big home-run number is a barrier to ace-dom. If he can’t keep opposing hitters in the yard come October, the Cubs could have an unwanted sequel on their hands.
But Friday, despite giving up that homer, it was all he gave up, allowing just one run in his five innings.
“There was a couple starts there where I didn’t perform well. But thanks to the support of my teammates, I’m still here,” Imanaga said. “Looking at the second half, I’m just thinking about, ‘What do I need to do to better myself as a pitcher?’”
Greene machine
Do you remember? The 18th day of September?
That’s when Hunter Greene threw a one-hit shutout against the Cubs last season.
Friday night, the Reds righty was at it again, striking out 12 Cubs and holding them to just three hits in seven scoreless innings.
One more and he’s back?
Righty starter Jameson Taillon will make a second minor league rehab start Saturday for Triple-A Iowa, what could be his final tune-up before returning from a hamstring strain that’s kept him on the injured list for more than a month.
Should everything go well, Counsell said, Taillon will return to the Cubs’ rotation on the other side of the All-Star break.
Swing, batter
Utility man Matt Shaw will test out his sprained hand again this weekend.
The Cubs are hoping to get Shaw, who has been on the IL since late last month, free of the symptoms he’s experienced in order to get him swinging again after the break.