Shota Imanaga isn’t looking too far ahead.
After his bounce-back performance last week in San Francisco, Imanaga downplayed the possibility of representing the Chicago Cubs in the All-Star Game on July 16.
“That sort of has been the goal,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “Looking back at my last couple outings, I feel like I’m not quite there yet. I’m not pitching to that standard.”
In his last start before Major League Baseball announces the All-Star teams Sunday, Imanaga kept the Cubs in the game Wednesday against Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler.
But with the score tied entering the eighth, a passed ball by catcher Miguel Amaya put runners on second and third and set up the Phillies to take the lead on a sacrifice fly and Whit Merrifield’s RBI single. The Cubs (39-48) lost 5-3, have lost eight of their last 10 games and are 18-36 since May 1.
Imanaga held the Phillies to three runs, coming on two home runs, in six innings while walking one and striking out eight.
“It’s not something that I can dictate,” Imanaga said of potentially earning the All-Star honor. “Obviously I did want to have a better performance, but it’s not really up to me.”
Manager Craig Counsell believes the Cubs have a couple of players who would be deserving of selection, and in Imanaga’s case, “the numbers speak for themselves.”
Imanaga has recorded only two bad starts this season with 17 of his 32 earned runs allowed coming in those games against the Milwaukee Brewers and New York Mets. The lefty otherwise has surrendered only 15 earned runs in 83 2/3 innings (1.61 ERA).
“He’s pitched really, really well,” Counsell said. “He’s been fun to watch. He’s given us a chance to win.”
Added Ian Happ after the loss: “He’s been fantastic. He’s one of the best pitchers in the game, but definitely as far as rookies go, what he’s been able to do in his first 16 starts in the big leagues has been super impressive.
“From our vantage point, he’s been the guy for us all year, and I would be honored for him to represent the Chicago Cubs in the All-Star Game.”
The Cubs’ extensive struggles, particularly on offense, likely will result in only the one mandatory representative in the midsummer classic. They have won only two of their last 15 series, one of which was a two-game set against the White Sox at Wrigley Field that required comebacks of five and four runs.
The Cubs managed two runs and five hits in six innings versus Wheeler on Wednesday. Pete Crow-Armstrong supplied both runs on two-out RBI doubles in the second and fourth. He positioned them to cash in with another run by stealing third base in the fourth, but Amaya struck out looking to end the inning.
Crow-Armstrong cut his left thumb, exposed by an opening on his sliding mitt, when he was spiked by Merrifield on the steal.
The Phillies used that to their advantage on the sacrifice fly in the eighth. Manager Rob Thomson told reporters postgame that they took a chance and ran on Crow-Armstrong because they believed he might not be 100% after sustaining the cut on his throwing hand.
That sacrifice fly opportunity was frustratingly set up by Amaya failing to hold on to Tyson Miller’s 0-1 sweeper to Edmundo Sosa, advancing both runners. Sosa connected on Miller’s next pitch for the go-ahead sac fly to Crow-Armstrong.
“That’s certainly a ball we’ve got to catch and that changes the inning for sure,” Counsell said. “(The Phillies) did a good job executing after that.”
