For the second time in club history, the Cubs have spun a combined no-hitter.
Starter Shota Imanaga did the heavy lifting in this one, which ended up an 12-0 Cubs blowout, against the Pirates. The 31-year-old rookie struck out seven against two walks through his seven innings of scoreless, no-hit work. He threw 95 pitches before Cubs manager Craig Counsell deemed it would be stretching things too far to go for the no-hitter. His high pitch count for the season is 103.
An item of note here: Isaac Paredes made two consecutive errors in the sixth inning on routine plays. That ended up costing Imanaga seven extra pitches. We’re left wondering if Counsell would’ve sent Imanaga back out for the eighth with 88 pitches and if this would’ve mattered.
Nate Pearson threw the eighth and Porter Hodge shut things down in the ninth.
The Pirates’ Bryan Reynolds reached in the first on a throwing error by the aforementioned Paredes but was quickly erased on an inning-ending double play. Connor Joe and Jared Triolo both walked in the second, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Nick Gonzales reached in the sixth inning on Paredes’ second and third errors of the night.
This marks the fourth no-hitter of the 2024 MLB season, following the Astros‘ Ronel Blanco against the Blue Jays, the Padres‘ Dylan Cease against the Nationals and the Giants‘ Blake Snell against the Reds. Imanaga is the first rookie to start a no-hitter since Reid Detmers in 2002 and the fourth Japanese-born pitcher to throw seven no-hit innings, joining the Mariners’ Hisashi Iwakuma against the Orioles in 2015, the Red Sox’s Hideo Nomo against the Orioles in 2001 and the Dodgers’ Hideo Nomo against the Rockies in 1996. The other three completed a full nine-inning no-hitter.
Zach Davies started the last Cubs’ combined no-hitter against the Dodgers in 2021. This is the first Cubs no-hitter thrown at Wrigley Field since 1972 and the franchise’s 18th overall, good for the third most of any franchise in MLB history. The Cubs have thrown five no-hitters in the last decade, behind just the Astros’ six.
Imanaga, 30, has a 12-3 record and a 2.99 ERA in his first season in MLB after coming over from the NPB in the offseason. The wins puts him in the lead among rookies this year, tied with the Yankees’ Luis Gil, and the ERA has him behind just Paul Skenes, the ace of the opposing Pirates. Imanaga’s 155 strikeouts is also first among rookies.
