PITTSBURGH \u2014 Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga appeared to wince after Pirates designated hitter Andrew McCutchen lined a double into left-center field leading off the sixth inning Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
Manager Craig Counsell and head trainer Nick Frangella jogged to the mound, along with interpreter Edwin Stanberry. Imanaga eventually left the field with them, suffering from what Counsell specified as cramps in both quadriceps.<\/p>\n
Though the diagnosis was minor and the Cubs won 9-0, Imanaga\u2019s departure initially cast a shadow in the wake of Justin Steele\u2019s season-ending elbow surgery this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did a couple of treatments, and there\u2019s no issue now,\u201d Imanaga, who improved to 3-1, said after the game.<\/p>\n
He said he doesn\u2019t anticipate the cramping will affect the timing of his next start.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like today, I was able to stop it a few steps before it would become a bigger issue,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it took some courage to say I should come out of the game, but I\u2019m glad I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Imanaga said he anticipated the cramping in the fifth and spoke to pitching coach Tommy Hottovy about it. It hit in the sixth during a seven-pitch at-bat against McCutchen when Imanaga\u2019s fastball, which has averaged about 91 mph this season, dropped as low as 88.7, according to Statcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve experienced it a couple of times in the past with high humidity, and when my pitching\u2019s going OK,\u201d Imanaga said.<\/p>\n
He had thrown five scoreless innings to that point, bouncing back from a far less dominant start last week against the Dodgers at Wrigley Field. That performance, which included five runs allowed on three homers, was overshadowed by a thrilling comeback as the Cubs walked off with an 11-10 win in 10 innings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot more of what we call the belt-line fastball,\u201d pitching coach Tommy Hottovy told the Sun-Times. \u201cWhen he\u2019s great, he\u2019s consistently getting the fastball up and the split down.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his mid-week bullpen session, Imanaga worked on honing the fastball at the top of the strike zone and practiced missing above it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to make mistakes,\u201d Hottovy said. \u201cBut it\u2019s just about trusting that he can get his fastball up there. The shape is great. Everything there is great. It\u2019s just about getting the execution back up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The work essentially was a nudge back toward an approach the Cubs have always seen as the way to maximize Imanaga\u2019s talents.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got the unique fastball that\u2019s just hard to get on top of,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cAnd [when] you put it in that part of the strike zone, it\u2019s even harder. For hitters to cheat to get on top of it \u2014 you can\u2019t because of the [splitter].\u201d<\/p>\n
Last spring, Imanaga\u2019s first playing in the United States, his main goal was figuring out the best use of his fastball in an unfamiliar league \u2014 and the Cubs stressed that the major-league strike zone stretched even higher than he might think. This year, coming off a rookie season that earned him a fifth-place finish in National League Cy Young voting, Imanaga has turned his focus to his slider, which he\u2019s deploying at a higher rate \u2014 a tool to stay ahead of the other teams adjusting to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked about that a lot this last bullpen,\u201d Hottovy said. \u201cLike, \u2018OK, what about your delivery makes your fastball so good? We need to replicate that in the slider, not vice versa.\u2019\u2009\u201d<\/p>\n
Imanaga\u2019s fastballs against the Pirates were clustered at the top of the strike zone, a clear adjustment from the week before. Of the six hits he allowed, only the last was for extra bases.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I worked on through the whole week, so I was looking forward to the outing,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m glad it went well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Imanaga left the Cubs’ 9-0 victory against the Pirates in the sixth inning. Manager Craig Counsell specified that it affected both quads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":51987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n