Shota Imanaga brilliant in return, Willson Contreras gets heated as Cubs blank Cards

New York Times

27-06-2025

ST LOUIS – Four minutes before first pitch on Thursday afternoon, Shota Imanaga strolled in from the left-field bullpen and headed toward the Cubs dugout at Busch Stadium. As he approached, a small group of Cubs fans in the area stood and cheered for the team's ace.
Imanaga then went out and gave those fans plenty more reason to celebrate as the All-Star lefty threw five brilliant shutout innings in the Cubs' 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. It had been 53 days since Imanaga toed the rubber of a big-league mound in competition. It looked like he hadn't missed a beat. Imanaga allowed just one hit while striking out three and walking one. He gave up little hard contact, flummoxing Cardinals hitters all day as he lowered his ERA on the season to 2.54.
Advertisement
When asked if he was surprised that he just continued from where he left off before his injury, Imanaga said, through interpreter Edwin Stanberry, there's more in the tank.
'I wouldn't say I felt 100 percent in control of all my pitches,' he said. 'Shoutout to the defense and (catcher Carson) Kelly, he was calling a really good game. I would say I was saved by my teammates.'
Imanaga can be humble, but his manager saw how big of a boost the lefty gave his team.
'Looked like he'd been out there every single start,' Craig Counsell said. 'I think there's a tendency to get a little overamped in a start like that and I thought he controlled his effort really well, his energy really well. And that caused a lot of really good execution.'
During his absence, the Cubs rotation put up a 4.91 ERA, 28th in baseball. Even if one were to remove the three openers in those outings and add in the bulk pitchers who pitched that day — in each instance, it was one of the five who had gotten regular starts while Imanaga was on the shelf — that ERA only goes down to 4.77.
To say the Cubs desperately missed Imanaga would be putting it lightly.
'You're getting one of the best pitchers in the game back in the rotation,' Ian Happ said. 'It's like trading for somebody in the middle of the season. Getting that guy back, top of the line starting pitcher. You saw what he did today and that was on a pitch count.'
While Imanaga sparkled, there were nearly fireworks at the end of the game. With the Cardinals trailing by three and a man on second, reliever Daniel Palencia threw a 1-2, 100.5 mph fastball up and in to former Cubs catcher Willson Contreras that barely clipped Contreras' hand as he was trying to get out of the way.
Contreras popped back up. And as he headed to first, he had some words for Palencia. Palencia reacted by putting his hands out as if to say, 'Why would I hit you?' A good question, considering that the next batter now represented the tying run.
Palencia would go on to strike out the next three Cardinals and while doing his celebration, turned in the direction of Contreras and the Cardinals' dugout. That set off Contreras once again, and the benches briefly emptied before order was restored and the Cubs celebrated their victory.
Advertisement
After the game, Contreras explained his reaction, pointing out that he had his hand broken last August when a pitch hit him.
'I know I react the way I react,' Contreras said. ' Nobody wants a fastball at your face. I know he's not trying to. I just said, 'Throw strikes.' My reaction was bad, I take that back. I apologize to the Chicago Cubs for reacting the way I reacted. But I'm not trying to get another broken bone.'
Happ was teammates with Contreras from 2017 until he left in free agency after the 2022 season. He understood where Contreras was coming from.
'That's Willson,' Happ said. 'He loves his teammates, he loves to play hard. He's going to be a guy that's in it every pitch. Any time you get hit up and in a spot like that, it's scary. Guys are frustrated. Totally get it. It's just the heat of the moment in competition.'
Palencia said his celebration after the game was merely an outburst of emotion after he'd worked out of a jam and helped his team get a big victory.
'It was an intense game, I was really hyped,' Palencia said. 'Nothing was intentional. It's just part of the game. I don't want to hit that guy. I've been watching that guy since I was a kid. I really feel proud of him, what he's doing for the game. Like I said, the moment was intense, close game.'
Contreras took exception to how Palencia celebrated.
'The only thing I didn't appreciate was the way he turned around,' Contreras said. 'But once again, it's just the heat of the game. He came out with good stuff, put another zero on the board and they won today.'
That, ultimately, is all that matters. The Cubs had every reason to hang their heads after losing the first two games of the series. But after their starting pitching failed them at the beginning of the series, Matthew Boyd and Imanaga didn't allow a run in the final two of the four-game set. The bullpen as a whole was dominant, tossing 15 shutout innings this week in St. Louis.
Advertisement
As bad as things looked after Tuesday night, the Cubs have kept the Cardinals 4 1/2 games back and allowed the Milwaukee Brewers to creep a half-game closer to being three games back.
'Just a lot of credit to the pitching staff,' Happ said. 'A lot of credit to Matty Boyd and Shota for going out there. Two dominant starts, bullpen not giving up anything. I think that's a huge credit to those guys.'
For all the handwringing from the outside after a bad loss, the Cubs have continually managed to keep the noise out of the clubhouse. This team could easily have let the first two losses of this series lead to a prolonged stretch of losing. Instead, the Cubs answered with two wins of their own.
From Justin Steele being lost for the season to Imanaga heading to the shelf to a demoralizing loss on Tuesday night, this team has repeatedly shown that when adversity hits, it knows how to respond. The Cubs' resiliency will come in handy the rest of this summer. And they hope that it will matter in October as well.
(Top photo of Shota Imanga: Scott Kane / Getty Images)