Left-hander Shota Imanaga held the Dodgers to one run over five innings on Wednesday in the Cubs' 7-6 win at Wrigley Field, striking out six and lowering his season ERA to 3.60.
It was the latest strong start from Imanaga, who has been excellent over the past two months. In his past 10 starts, dating back to June 10, Imanaga has a 2.06 ERA after posting a 4.74 ERA across his first 13 outings of the season.
And in a quintessential display of baseball superstition, Imanaga credits his recent run of success to ... a new cellphone background?
Let Marquee Sports Network reporter Taylor McGregor explain: Cubs teammate Ben Brown once purloined Imanaga’s phone and took a picture of himself on a training table. Imanaga liked the photo so much he decided to make it his new home screen -- right before things started clicking for him on the mound.
While Brown, who has been out since June 19 with a neck strain, was transferred to the 60-day injured list on Tuesday, he’s still been able to make an impact for the Cubs. Imanaga has a great name for the fateful photo that helped turn his season around: “Lucky Benjamin.”