Matt Shaw is showing no ill effects from the back ailment that forced the Chicago Cubs to put him on the injured list last month.
Since returning on June 9, Shaw is batting .292, which includes a three-run homer he hit Saturday to stake the Cubs to an early lead against the Toronto Blue Jays in Chicago.
But the Cubs, who took a 5-0 advantage into the seventh inning, couldn’t hold on, losing 8-6.
The two teams will meet again Sunday afternoon with the series on the line following Chicago’s 16-2 win on Friday.
Shaw has driven in seven runs since his return, one of them coming on a walk-off walk in a 5-4 win over the Colorado Rockies on Monday.
“Matty has done a real nice job in this stint,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “He has been great against lefties, and we really needed that.”
Despite the Blue Jays scoring eight unanswered runs on their way to Saturday’s win, Shaw said he sees good things coming for the Cubs.
“I think we have the momentum on offense, and we are in a good spot to get rolling,” he said. “I have been getting consistent at-bats, and I think I’m really seeing the ball well.”
Colin Rea retired the first 12 Blue Jays he faced Saturday, and Shaw and Pete Crow-Armstrong (two-run home run) staked the Cubs to their 5-0 lead.
The bullpen, which lost closer Daniel Palencia with a flexor strain in his pitching arm earlier this week, blew the largest lead all season in the loss.
“We have guys down there that have been successful, so to look at one game and say we are in trouble is not right,” Rea said after the bullpen couldn’t deliver a win for him. “Looking forward, those guys will be just fine.”
The Cubs will start Shota Imanaga (4-6, 4.26 ERA) on Sunday. The 32-year-old southpaw is coming off a non-decision against the Rockies in which he gave up five hits and one run in 5 2/3 innings in his team’s 5-4 win on Monday.
Imanaga has not won since beating the Reds 8-3 on May 7. Chicago has won only two of his past seven starts, a span in which he has allowed 29 earned runs in 39 1/3 innings. He also has given up 13 home runs since his most recent win.
He has never faced the Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays will counter with right-hander Dylan Cease (4-3, 2.71 ERA), who has been dominant since returning from a brief stint on the injured list June 9 due to a mild left hamstring strain.
Cease beat the Boston Red Sox in his most recent outing, giving up four hits and no runs in five innings on Tuesday in a 6-1 victory. He struck out seven but walked four.
In the two outings since his return, he has given up one run in 11 innings and has struck out 18.
“He forced some ugly swings and set the tone early with his dominance,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said of Cease’s Tuesday win over the Red Sox. “His stuff is so electric, it can draw chase swings on almost any pitch.”
The 30-year-old right-hander is 4-2 with a 2.47 ERA in eight career starts against the Cubs.
The Blue Jays will look to win their second consecutive road series after sweeping the Red Sox to start their six-game road trip. Toronto has won four of its past five games to pull within a game of .500 for the season (38-39).
–Field Level Media
