CHICAGO — It’s pretty cliché and fairly obvious, but Michael Busch and the Cubs arrive at the ballpark each day with a clear mentality.

“We show up here to win,” the Cubs first baseman – and new leadoff hitter – said after their 6-0 win over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night. “We’ve been doing a good job of that lately, just playing team baseball, winning a lot of games in different ways.”

A 59-39 record – the best mark in baseball in mid-July – asserts that.

But Saturday and every fifth or sixth day after that is a bit different. There’s another aura when the Cubs head to the stadium when Shota Imanaga is scheduled to be on the bump.

“Our bullpen, our starters, they’ve been so good for us this year, keeping us in games, lettings us win that 2-1 game coming in, shutting it down,” Busch said. “I think we feel pretty good showing up with whoever’s on the mound, but you got to like Shota, who’s one of the best pitchers in the world.

“Anytime that you get him on the mound you know you got a good shot to win.”

That’s because the Cubs are 32-10 in games he’s started since he debuted in the majors last season – a .762 winning percentage or a 126-win pace. That’s really good – so solid you could use the three-letter, a-word.  

You know it.

“That’s ace-level record right there,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s as good as it gets.”

Imanaga downplayed the lofty title.

“I’m not going to say I don’t have confidence in myself, but I think having great pitchers around me, whether it’s [Jameson Taillon] or [Matthew] Boyd or [Justin Steele], who’s with us right now,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry, “I think just talking to them, getting advice from them, I think it’s been very comfortable.”

Saturday was a prime example of why it’s fair to call him an “ace”.

On the first pitch of the game, Rob Refsnyder roped a double to the left-center field gap, immediately putting pressure on the left-hander.

“It’s mentally tough when that first pitch gets hit, especially for a double,” Imanaga said.

The approach shifts to damage control. One run is rarely going to win a baseball game, but exerting max effort early on could burn a starter and limit their ability to pitch deep into a game.

“In that moment, I was thinking about, ‘It’s OK if I give up a run,’” Imanaga said. “It’s more important to continue to stack up all the outs.”

But he is – after all – an ace. And he showed it.

Imanaga induced a groundout from Alex Bregman then struck out Romy Gonzalez and Roman Anthony, stranding Refsnyder at third and letting out a small fist pump after the final punchout.

That allowed the Cubs to come up to bat in a scoreless game and quickly pounced with back-to-back home runs from Busch and Kyle Tucker, the first of five long balls from the offense on the night. And it was plenty of support for Imanaga. The left-hander threw seven shutout frames allowing just five hits and a walk with five strikeouts.

He retired 11 straight batters after a leadoff walk in the fourth inning.

“He’s pitching at a really high level and he feels like he’s got kind of into this groove, into mid-season form now and as we look back we get a benefit of just having a little less innings under his belt,” Counsell said. “And that’s a great thing.”

Imanaga’s hamstring injury was definitely a blow to a staff that has seen injuries to 80-percent of their projected Opening Day rotation. But the blessing in disguise is Imanaga is at just 75 innings pitched this season.

For a team with expectations and hopes of playing deep into October, having their ace a bit fresher is a benefit.

“Those numbers – it’s an honor,” Imanaga said. “But I think obviously there are times where you don’t have a great outing, and I think that’s where it showcases the great teammates, the staff, the interpreter. I think that’s kind of given me the strength to be like, ‘OK I’m not scared if I do have a bad outing, because I know there’s people around me who’s going to pick me up.’ So I think it really just shows more about my support group and all my teammates.”