{"id":67167,"date":"2025-07-09T07:10:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T07:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=67167"},"modified":"2025-07-09T07:10:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T07:10:23","slug":"cubs-craig-counsell-sends-shota-imanaga-warning-to-opponents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=67167","title":{"rendered":"Cubs&#8217; Craig Counsell sends Shota Imanaga warning to opponents"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>The Chicago Cubs may have dropped Tuesday night&#8217;s matchup to the Minnesota Twins, but all eyes were on Shota Imanaga \u2014 and manager Craig Counsell made sure the league took notice. The Cubs skipper sent a strong message after the game, warning opponents that the Japanese left-hander isn\u2019t even at his best yet.<\/p>\n<p>In a clip posted by Marquee Sports Network on X (formerly known as Twitter), Counsell praised Imanaga\u2019s performance while hinting at an even higher ceiling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t think he&#8217;s as good as he can be yet, but he&#8217;s getting people out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the Cubs\u2019 8-1 loss to Minnesota, fueled largely by bullpen struggles and an ice cold night at the plate, Imanaga&#8217;s outing was a silver lining. The southpaw went six full innings, giving up five hits and two earned runs, while walking none and allowing no home runs. He threw 83 pitches, 61 for strikes, and held opposing batters at bay all night.<\/p>\n<p>It marked Imanaga\u2019s third consecutive strong outing since returning from the injured list, building on 5.0 shutout innings against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 26th, and a 5.1 inning effort against the Cleveland Guardians on July 2nd. His steady progression has brought much-needed stability to the Cubs rotation following Jameson Taillon\u2019s recent absence due to a right calf strain.<\/p>\n<p>Imanaga\u2019s efficiency continues to impress. He\u2019s posted a 2.80 ERA and 0.98 WHIP through 55 innings this season \u2014 numbers that rank among the best on the team. He also demonstrated key in-game adjustments against the Twins, shutting them down over his final five innings after allowing two early runs.<\/p>\n<p>As the NL Central standings tighten, Chicago needs every arm firing. With a 54-37 record, the Cubs hold a narrow 2.5-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers. That lead could vanish quickly without consistent pitching, which is why Imanaga\u2019s resurgence is so timely.<\/p>\n<p>Counsell\u2019s postgame quote doesn\u2019t just reflect belief \u2014 it\u2019s a strategic statement to the rest of the National League. If this is Imanaga still ramping up, what happens when he\u2019s fully back?<\/p>\n<p>The Cubs are chasing more than a division title this season. They\u2019re building toward October \u2014 and if Imanaga continues this trend, he could be one of the most dangerous pitchers come postseason time.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Craig Counsell warns league that Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga is only getting started after a strong outing vs. Twins despite the loss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":67168,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[282,823,44,117],"class_list":["post-67167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-craig-counsell","tag-mlb","tag-shota-imanaga"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cubs&#039; Craig Counsell sends Shota Imanaga warning to opponents - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=67167\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cubs&#039; 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