Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga continued the impressive start to his MLB rookie season by throwing seven shutout innings in a 1-0 win over the New York Mets on Wednesday.
Imanaga (5-0) struck out seven and allowed just three hits, all singles, with a walk at Citi Field in New York. The 30-year-old left-hander lowered his ERA to a major league-best 0.78 in six starts.
The Mets had a runner in scoring position only twice against the former ace of the DeNA BayStars in Japan. Imanaga threw 87 pitches, 58 for strikes.
"I communicated well with the catcher and managed to avoid pitches that hitters were looking for," he said.
On his five wins in six starts, Imanaga said, "I'm putting up better numbers than I imagined. When I look back at each of my outings, things have been very, very close, and I've been just lucky."
Pete Crow-Armstrong drove in the only run of the game with a sacrifice fly in the fifth off Jose Butto (0-2).
In Phoenix, Arizona, Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3-1) won his second consecutive start after going six innings in an 8-0 shutout of the Diamondbacks.
Andy Pages opened the scoring with a two-run homer in a five-run second inning. Mookie Betts had three hits and also drove in two runs for the Dodgers, who rested Shohei Ohtani for the first time this season.
In Detroit, Kenta Maeda (1-1) earned the win after pitching six innings of one-run ball as the Tigers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1.
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