Cubs rookie Shōta Imanaga falls back to earth, allows 7 ER in loss to Brewers following historic MLB start

Shōta Imanaga is human.

After a historic start to his MLB career, the rookie Chicago Cubs pitcher was roughed up by the Milwaukee Brewers Wednesday night. Imanaga allowed seven earned runs to Milwaukee in a truncated out that lasted just 4 1/3 innings. The Brewers prevailed, 10-4.

Christian Yelich got the Brewers party started with a first-pitch, 441-foot home run in the first inning to give Milwaukee a 2-1 lead.

Imanaga got through the rest of the first and the second inning unscathed. But the Brewers poured in on in the third. With runners on the corners, Will Adames knocked in a run with a one-out single to center field. Gary Sánchez then scored Yelich and Adames with a double to left field.

Blake Perkins then sent a first-pitch 82 mph splitter that hung over the plate over the left field that scored two runs and extended Milwaukee’s lead to, 7-1.

The seven earned runs in three innings were more than double the five Imanaga allowed across 53.2 innings in his nine previous starts.

The damage against Imanaga was done. He got through a 1-2-3 fourth inning, then got pulled by manager Craig Counsell when he issued a one-out walk to Adames in the fifth. The Brewers added three more runs off Cubs reliever in route to the 10-6 win.

Imanaga finished the outing allowing seven earned runs on eight hits, two home runs and one walk. He recorded a single strikeout.

The good news is that his season-long ERA is still remarkable. Even with the bloated outing, his ERA through 58 innings sits at a tidy 1.86. That’s thanks to a 0.84 ERA that stood as the lowest in MLB history through a player’s first nine career starts.