Shota Imanaga pitched seven outstanding innings and the visiting Chicago Cubs ended the unofficial first half of the season with a 4-1 victory over the New York Yankees on Sunday afternoon.
The Cubs won the final two games of the series after allowing three homers to Cody Bellinger in an 11-0 loss on Friday. Chicago now heads into the All-Star break with 57 wins, its most since the 2008 season.
The left-hander followed eight scoreless innings from Matthew Boyd in Saturday’s 5-2 win and held the Yankees to one run and two hits in the longest of his four starts since returning from a strained left hamstring.
Imanaga (6-3) struck out six and walked one while throwing 55 of 91 pitches for strikes. He fell behind eight of the first 10 hitters before an impressive sequence in the fourth when he retired Cody Bellinger, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.
Imanaga retired Bellinger on a fly ball to right field and then fanned Judge and Stanton.
Michael Busch homered in his first career plate appearance in the leadoff spot on the second pitch from New York rookie Will Warren (6-5). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Busch became the first Cub to homer in his first plate appearance in the leadoff spot since Willson Contreras on June 26, 2017.
Dansby Swanson hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth off Ian Hamilton as the Cubs won for the fourth time in their past six visits to Yankee Stadium. Seiya Suzuki contributed a double and scored from second on an infield hit by Pete Crow-Armstrong in the seventh.
Giancarlo Stanton hit his 433rd career homer in the second for the Yankees, who lost their second straight following a five-game winning streak. The Yankees ended the first half by dropping 18 of 29 games.
Judge struck out twice in three at-bats against Imanaga. Bellinger celebrated his 30th birthday but saw a career-high 17-game hitting streak stopped.
Warren allowed two runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander struck out one and walked three.
Drew Pomeranz breezed through the eighth and Daniel Palencia easily converted his 12th save.
–Field Level Media
