MIAMI – For starting pitcher Shota Imanaga, a new haircut might have been the thing he needed to put his latest skid behind him.
“I was out there trying my best because, if I cut my hair, I have to pitch well,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry.
That's exactly what he did.
In Chicago’s 6-1 win at loanDepot park, Imanaga threw six-plus innings on 94 pitches, allowing just three hits while striking out four. It was a much-needed outing for Imanaga after he posted a 5.96 ERA in August and allowed 11 home runs over his previous six starts. His 33 homers allowed this season are tied with Athletics lefty Jeffrey Springs for the most in the Majors.
“Building trust is like Dominos or Jenga, where it takes time and it’s hard to build up,” Imanaga said. “But in an instant it can disappear. So I slowly built that trust back up [to] be that pitcher that everyone can trust on.”
His splitter was particularly effective against the Miami lineup. Imanaga struck out three batters with the pitch while generating a 53 percent whiff rate with it. He finished with a 41 percent whiff rate overall, his fourth-highest swing-and-miss in a game in his career.
“He had a good feel for it tonight,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He threw a lot of really good ones and … the league doesn't hit it when it's a good pitch.
“It was a night where [the splitter] was on, and it was a night where he was planning on using it a lot, and it worked out well.”
Imanaga's fastball velocity also stayed consistent throughout the night, averaging 91.7 mph. The velocity on his four-seamer can be deceiving because it plays up in the strike zone, while also pairing well with his splitter and breaking ball.
“I thought, [with] his secondary pitches, he was able to strike enough of them and get some of us to chase down below there,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “He threw well, and we just weren't really able to create a whole lot of traffic in the early part of the game.”
Counsell credited Imanaga's success on the mound to doing a better job of setting up his outing with the first pitches he threw.
After a first-pitch ball, he threw three straight strikes to retire Heriberto Hernández to open his outing with a K.
“In his last start, he had to work really hard to put up a zero in the first inning,” Counsell said. “He put some effort into some fastballs in the first inning, and he got to maybe 94 [mph] on some fastballs. But then it maybe cost you later in the game, right? He maintained it tonight really well.”
The weather-controlled environment at loanDepot park also helped.
“Here being a dome, compared to [the] feel outdoors, the environment is going to be very consistent,” Imanaga said. “So I think that helped with that.”
Imanaga was charged with his only run in the bottom of the seventh after giving up a leadoff single to Griffin Conine, who later scored on a groundout by Esteury Ruiz against reliever Aaron Civale.
But Imanaga kept the Marlins’ offense quiet for the most part, and Pete Crow-Armstrong made sure to help him do so.
After Hernández sent a deep fly ball to center in the sixth, Crow-Armstrong tracked it down and jumped into the wall to snag it and rob him of at least an extra-base hit.
“Just hit it over my right shoulder, and thankfully [I] turned the right way and put my head down and just tried to make up some ground and found the wall,” Crow-Armstrong said.
“[Imanaga] was fantastic, getting a lot of swings and a lot of soft contact,” Crow-Armstrong added. “So it's always great when we're involved, and he does a good job of that when he's getting guys to swing at his splitty.”
For Imanaga, having Crow-Armstrong behind him always provides another layer of confidence, because he always believes the Cubs' star center fielder is going to catch the ball.
“Looking at Pete, he's the type of player who's gonna leave his mark in history,” Imanaga said. “And having him behind me, it's just knowing that he's there that means so much. Also, with the whole entire pitching staff, I think that's the same thing, too. Without him, we wouldn't be in the situation we are.”