Pirates wait out dominant Imanaga to defeat Cubs in series opener

CHICAGO -- The Pirates are well aware of their struggles against Shota Imanaga. The Cubs’ southpaw entered Friday having held them in check in four career starts, allowing just one earned run over 26 innings and even leading a combined no-hitter against them on Sept. 4, 2024.

So, with its nemesis back on the mound in Friday’s series opener, Pittsburgh tried a different approach -- just wait him out.

The Bucs were held hitless over the first six innings at Wrigley Field, but they spent much of the afternoon routinely fouling off Imanaga’s offerings, running him up to 100 pitches and preventing him from carrying his no-hit bid any further. As he departed, the vibe within the Pirates’ dugout completely shifted.

“When somebody is just kinda cutting through your lineup, it’s nice to get him out,” left fielder Bryan Reynolds said. “It’s almost like you’ve got a second wind when you’ve got somebody else in the game.”

Based on what happened next, it seems that second wind was a strong one.

Ryan O’Hearn greeted reliever Caleb Thielbar with a hard-hit single down the right-field line to break up the no-hitter. Reynolds then jumped on the first offering he saw, clubbing a curve 106.1 mph off the bat and into the left-field bleachers. After spending six frames struggling to reach first base, the Pirates had a two-run lead that they maintained for a series-opening 2-0 victory. It marked the first time Pittsburgh beat the Cubs while getting four or fewer baserunners since April 18, 1907.

“This is a good win tonight,” manager Don Kelly said. “Any win you can get in Chicago against the Cubs at Wrigley is a special one. You can hear the guys. They’re fired up about it.”

The postgame elation within the Pirates’ clubhouse was more than understandable. For much of Friday’s bout, it seemed as though Imanaga was going to provide a sour start to Pittsburgh’s road trip.

Chicago’s southpaw made quick work of the Bucs' lineup every inning, inducing mostly weak contact and racking up nine strikeouts on the day. Oneil Cruz’s second-inning walk marked the only baserunner Imanaga allowed.

But that plate appearance also highlighted the one thing that was working well for Pittsburgh against the lefty.

Cruz worked the count full, then fouled off three consecutive pitches before taking a four-seamer up and away for ball four. Pirates hitters fouled off 31 of Imanaga’s pitches on the day. By the end of the sixth, they knew his outing -- dominant as it may have been -- was wrapped.

“If Imanaga’s rolling like that against us, he’ll end up going seven or eight innings and won’t even get to 100 pitches,” Kelly said. “To get him to 100 pitches in six innings … although we didn’t get the hits, I thought we put up a good fight and had decent at-bats.”

The best at-bats of the day came in the seventh, when O’Hearn and Reynolds showed just how important it was to get Imanaga out of the game earlier. Not only did Reynolds’ shot provide all the runs Pittsburgh would need, it also gave him something to celebrate with his dad, who was one of several fathers joining the Bucs on this road trip.

“Good thing I hit a homer, otherwise he’d be screaming at me,” Reynolds joked.

The two-run blast was enough thanks in part to a gutsy effort on the mound from Carmen Mlodzinski. The 27-year-old right-hander, who is pitching as a starter again after spending the second half of 2025 working out of Pittsburgh’s bullpen, held the Cubs scoreless through 5 1/3 frames, his second-longest MLB start.

“I think last year was pretty ugly at this time, so [things] probably could only go up, honestly,” said Mlodzinski, who was optioned to Triple-A on May 21 last season after posting a 4.99 ERA as a starter. “I think I've grown as a player. I've learned from the mistakes of last year. Doesn't mean I haven't made them again this year, honestly, and I haven't been perfect yet, but I'm definitely in a better spot than last year.”

That ironically summarizes Friday as a whole for the Pirates. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but the growth they showed both in their approach to Imanaga and how they reacted to his departure resulted in an incredibly hard-fought victory.

“There was no panic in the dugout,” Reynolds said. “That’s just kinda how the games go sometimes. Sometimes the starter’s got your number, and when he comes out, whether you say it or not, you probably get a little bit of confidence.”