On Wednesday night, the Chicago Cubs laid waste to the Pittsburgh Pirates, perhaps in retaliation over their heartbreaking 5-3 defeat on Monday and their hapless performance in a 5-0 loss on Tuesday. The Cubs got their offense going rather quickly en route to a 12-0 win over the Pirates. But it was the Cubs' pitching performance as a team that took center stage. Led by Shota Imanaga, the Cubs' pitchers combined to blank the Pirates, registering a team no-hitter in the process.
In the end, Cubs manager Craig Counsell decided to protect Imanaga instead of throwing him out on the mound for an eighth and, potentially, a ninth inning of work. Imanaga was at 95 pitches, and the Pirates couldn't muster much hard contact against him, so it would not have been the worst idea in the world to give him a shot at history. But the 31-year-old starter didn't seem to put up much of a fight when Counsell decided to pull him from the game; in fact, he expected it, given how carefully the team has managed his workload this season.
It turns out that Shota Imanaga wasn't very aware that he hasn't allowed a hit yet on the night, as he simply realized the history that awaited him and the Cubs thanks to Counsell's behavior in the clubhouse during the eighth inning.
“Usually he looks happy about [the outing], telling me good job. But he looked a little worried and so I was figuring out what’s going on and that’s when I learned,” Imanaga said in his native tongue, via Tony Andracki of Marquee Sports Network.
Even Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya didn't realize in the moment that Imanaga was throwing a no-hitter. He simply realized it when he heard the crowd's reaction when they didn't see Imanaga come back to the mound in the eighth.
“I had no idea, either. I figured it out when Nate [Pearson] was coming in and fans started booing,” Amaya said.
This collective lack of awareness may have helped out the Cubs in the end; even reliever Nate Pearson did not notice the no-hitter in effect, so perhaps that helped him get out of his head.
“I honestly didn’t know we had a no-hitter going and I ran out there, started getting booed and I realized we probably got something on the line here. So I just kinda locked it in and did my part,” Pearson said.
Cubs get back to winning ways in an epic manner
Shota Imanaga is clearly capable of throwing a no-hitter by himself, considering how well he has transitioned from Japan to the MLB. However, finishing off the no-hitter would have meant that he'd blow past his career-high in pitches thrown (103), as he was at 95 with two innings remaining.
Regardless, Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge got the job done; in fact, they did not allow a single baserunner in the final two innings, thereby finishing the job Imanaga started. During Imanaga's seven innings of work, there were a few nervy moments courtesy of some shaky fielding.
The Cubs allowed five baserunners on the night, with two of those being walks from Imanaga and three Pirates hitters reaching base thanks to three errors from trade deadline acquisition Isaac Paredes.
Their 12-0 win over the Pirates means that they remain 4.5 games back of the Atlanta Braves for the third and final NL Wild Card spot.
