St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs

· Major League Baseball

St. Louis Cardinals

34-35, 17-20 Away

Final
1 - 5

Chicago Cubs

34-37, 19-14 Home

Imanaga pitches 7 solid innings as the Cubs beat the Cardinals 5-1

Imanaga allowed one run and four hits in his second straight win. The Japanese left-hander struck out six and walked none while improving to 3-0 with a 1.31 ERA in his first seven starts at Wrigley Field.

“He pitched an incredible game,” manager Craig Counsell said. “I thought his fastball was so good today. Just his location with his fastball was excellent all day.”

Chicago had lost three of four and 15 of 21. It was the team's first win in four games against rival St. Louis this season.

The Cardinals threatened in the seventh, putting runners on first and second with one out. But Imanaga (7-1) retired Dylan Carlson on a flyball and struck out Brendan Donovan, preserving a 2-1 lead.

Imanaga emphatically pumped his left arm after Donovan swung and missed an 84.1 mph sweeper for strike three on the eighth pitch of the at-bat. The rookie finished with a career-high 103 pitches, 69 for strikes.

Asking what he was thinking as he retired Donovan, Imanaga said he was “pretty hungry.”

“So I was thinking about what kind of food, nutrition, I should take after the game,” he said through an interpreter. “This is my honest thoughts.”

The Cubs (34-37) then broke open the game in the bottom half. With two outs and two on, Happ drove a 1-2 slider from John King deep to left-center for his seventh homer.

“To not have to give the bullpen a one-run lead and try to ask them to hold it, you know it was great,” Happ said.

St. Louis (34-35) finished with four hits. It had won three in a row and four of five to get back to .500.

"(Imanaga) did a really nice job,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “That mix of the four-seamer with the split was tough for the guys, obviously. We weren't able to string a whole lot together off of him.”

The Cardinals jumped in front on Nolan Arenado's sacrifice fly in the fourth, but the Cubs responded with two runs in the bottom half.

Andre Pallante (2-3) departed with one out and runners on first and second. Chris Roycroft came in and mishandled Nico Hoerner's grounder up the first base line, allowing Cody Bellinger to score. Seiya Suzuki scampered home on Dansby Swanson's grounder in front of the plate.

Pallante was charged with one earned run and five hits. He pitched five scoreless innings in a 5-1 victory over Colorado in his previous start.

“I felt like my stuff was really good," he said. “I was commanding the ball really well. I think a couple of the hits they got were on really good pitches.”

TRAINER'S ROOM

Cardinals: C Willson Contreras (left arm fracture) took batting practice on Friday in St. Louis. ... LHP Steven Matz (back strain) is expected to throw approximately 50 pitches in a rehab appearance with Double-A Springfield on Sunday. ... RHP Giovanny Gallegos (shoulder impingement) allowed three runs and three hits in one inning in a rehab appearance with Springfield on Friday.

Cubs: Jordan Wicks was placed on the 15-day IL with a strained right oblique, and RHP Keegan Thompson was recalled from Triple-A Iowa. ... RHP Yency Almonte (shoulder strain) is nearing a rehab stint in the minors after he threw live batting practice in Arizona on Friday. ... RHPs Caleb Kilian (shoulder strain) and Julian Merryweather (rib stress fracture) each had a bullpen session on Friday.

Right-handers Miles Mikolas (4-6, 4.85 ERA) and Jameson Taillon (3-2, 3.09 ERA) pitch on Sunday in the series finale. Mikolas is 2-1 with a 3.00 ERA in his last six starts for St. Louis. Taillon tossed six scoreless innings in Chicago's 5-2 loss at Tampa Bay on Tuesday night.

How can I watch St. Louis Cardinals vs. Chicago Cubs?

TV Channel: Cardinals at Cubs 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on FS1.
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Matchup Prediction

Cubs: 64.3%

Cardinals: 35.7%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Gorman struck out looking.
	9th Inning	Arenado grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	Goldschmidt struck out swinging.
	8th Inning	Gomes struck out swinging.
	8th Inning	Crow-Armstrong bunt grounded out to pitcher.
	8th Inning	Swanson grounded out to shortstop.

Statistics

STL		CHC
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
1	Hit By Pitch	0
6	Ground Balls	14
8	Strikeouts	5
1	Runs Batted In	5
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
4	Hits	9
0	Stolen Bases	2
0	Walks	5
0	Catcher Interference	0
1	Runs	5
0	Ground Into Double Play	3
1	Sacrifice Flies	0
30	At Bats	31
0	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
11	Runners Left On Base	22
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
1	Doubles	0
17	Fly Balls	12
0	Caught Stealing	0
134	Pitches	128
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	1
5	Total Bases	12
32	Plate Appearances	36
0.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
1	Extra Base Hits	1
0.0	Runs Created	4.4
.133	Batting Average	.290
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.167	Slugging Percentage	.387
.033	Secondary Average	.323
.156	On Base Percentage	.389
.323	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.776
0.4	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.2
0.0	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	4.8
10.0	Batter Rating	34.0
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	31.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
4.19	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.56
.033	Isolated Power	.097
0.00	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	1.00
.000	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.139
-.100	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.032
2.0	Runs Produced	10.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.2	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.2	Balls In Play Average	0.3
62.0	MLB Rating	85.0
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0