For many frustrated Chicago Cubs fans, Shota Imanaga’s first start can be summed up with the three-run homer he allowed to Joey Wiemer in the top of the first inning last weekend, which led the Washington Nationals to a 6-3 victory at Wrigley Field. <\/p>\n
Imanaga recovered from there, with the only other run he was charged with coming after the pen took over – but the overall line still left a lot to be desired for a guy making $22 million this season<\/a>: 5 innings pitched, 4 earned runs, 6 hits, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts.<\/p>\n But if you think the Cubs are going to, all of a sudden, throw in the towel on the southpaw because of that three-run homer, you are sorely mistaken. Pitching coach Tommy Hottovy appeared on 670 The Score this week and adamantly defended Imanaga’s performance<\/a> in his first outing.<\/p>\n “There are so many positive things to take away from what he did and what he’s been working on – and I believe he’s a better pitcher than even what we saw in ’24 … with his mix, he’s going to give home runs at times. That’s just the type of pitcher he is. But he also threw a sinker down and away to a righty to get a double play ball in that game – and it kind of goes unnoticed.”<\/p>\n Shota Imanaga leaned on a new-look sinker in his first start of 2026<\/p>\n Digging in a little on admittedly limited data, the big shift in Imanaga’s pitch mix in that start was exactly that: he leaned pretty heavily on a sinker, a pitch he threw just 1.2 percent of the time last year. Against the Nats, 8.5 percent of his pitches were sinkers<\/a>, according to Baseball Savant, offset by a reduction in four-seam fastballs.<\/p>\n