ST. LOUIS -- The long ball continued to haunt Cubs starter Shota Imanaga on Friday night.
Three of the five hits Imanaga allowed to the Cardinals left the yard, accounting for all five runs the left-hander yielded in a 6-5 loss.
Imanaga walked one, struck out two and hit two batters in his 5 1/3 innings of work. He has now allowed eight home runs, accounting for 14 runs in his last three starts. During that span, his ERA has risen from 2.32 to 4.37.
“The last three games, like condition-wise, physical condition, it's been fine,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “I think the opposing team, they're analyzing what pitches I'm using, and they're executing their game plan. So I need to execute my game plan better.”
These issues started early, as Nelson Velázquez, who was selected from Triple-A Memphis prior to the game, blasted the first pitch he saw from Imanaga for a three-run homer in the first. Velázquez’s first homer since May 31, 2024, as a member of the Kansas City Royals erased a 3-0 Cubs lead.
“It was about the first inning to me,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “We get a first-pitch out, and then it's a hit-by-pitch, it's a four-pitch walk, and it's a down-the-middle ball first pitch, so it was just like a real lack of command the first inning. Then we got in the game, he got it going a little bit, but there's three runs on the board.”
Thomas Saggesse’s first homer of the season tied the game at 4-all in the fourth, and Iván Herrera gave the Cardinals a 5-4 lead with a laser over the Cubs’ bullpen in the fifth.
Imanaga was effective when he kept the ball in the park, retiring the Cardinals in order in the second and pitching around a leadoff double in the third.
“Looking at the pitches, executing the best quality pitch, best-shaped pitch in the best spot,” Imanaga said. “I think even today, the location was off, so they were getting good swings on it, even if the pitch shape was good.”
Imanaga gave up three homers for the second consecutive start. The most recent Cubs hurler to give up three or more home runs in back-to-back games is Jameson Taillon (May 9-14, 2025). The five runs allowed were the most by Imanaga in five career starts against St. Louis.
“Just missed a couple spots tonight,” Cubs left fielder Ian Happ said. “That's all. They took advantage of it. You know, when you're going good and you're rolling, everything's good. Those pitches are fouled off and are popped up, and tonight they got a hold of a couple balls. But we believe in him. He's going to be just fine.”
The Cardinals’ power display offset a strong start by the Cubs' lineup, which put up four runs in the first two innings.
Happ gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead in the first, blasting an Andre Pallante fastball 407 feet into the Cardinals’ bullpen in right field. It’s the third straight game in which Happ has homered. With a two-hit night against the Cardinals, he is hitting .467 (7-for-15) with three homers and 10 RBIs during that span.
“That's a tough one,” Happ said. “I think we had, again, a lot of opportunities. We did a good job putting up some runs early, and after they hit the homer to tie it, and then we go up 4-3, and we had some opportunities there to drive a couple more in and add on, but that's the game of baseball.”
Michael Busch’s two-out single scored Dansby Swanson to give the Cubs a 4-3 lead in the second. Busch had three hits, as did Seiya Suzuki.
But the Cubs’ bats couldn’t get any traction against the Cardinals' bullpen. St. Louis used six relievers who combined for five scoreless innings, before the Cubs scratched a run across in the ninth against Riley O’Brien.
“We did a really nice job against their starter through three innings of good rallies, and maybe [Dansby Swanson's] lineout to end [the third] inning, a missed opportunity,” Counsell said. “But yeah, some of their bullpen guys did a good job.”