(Chicago) Shota Imanaga and two Chicago Cubs relievers threw a combined no-hitter in a 12-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday.
Imanaga (12-3), a 31-year-old left-hander in his first season with the Cubs after pitching in Japan for eight seasons, struck out seven and walked two in seven innings.
He threw 66 strikes on 95 pitches. It took him 25 pitches to get through the second inning, which was his toughest.
Imanaga agreed to a four-year, $53 million contract in January. The Cubs paid $9,825,000 in compensation to the Yokohama BayStars of Japan’s Central League.
Nate Pearson retired all three batters he faced in the eighth inning and Porter Hodge pitched a perfect ninth inning in the 18th.e no-hitter in Cubs history.
The last feat of this kind by the Illinois team was achieved by Zach Davies, Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin and Craig Kimbrel on June 24, 2021, against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It is the fourth no-hitter this season in Major League Baseball, but the first combined.
Ronel Blanco of the Houston Astros, Dylan Cease of the San Diego Padres and Blake Snell of the San Francisco Giants had the other three.