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.
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.
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.
The Cardinals’ power display offset a strong start by the Cubs' lineup, which put up four runs in the first two innings.
Ian 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.
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 six innings of one-run ball.