'Awesome' Shota Imanaga aims to lead Cubs past Mariners

The only thing that has stopped Shota Imanaga this season is Mother Nature.

Through his first two major league starts, the Chicago Cubs left-hander (1-0, 0.00 ERA) has thrown 10 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and striking out 12 without walking a batter.

He'll try to continue that streak at Seattle in his first road start Saturday night.

After beating Colorado 5-0 on April 1 in a game in which he struck out nine and gave up two hits in six innings, his second start, against the Los Angeles Dodgers, was interrupted by a nearly three-hour rain delay after four innings Sunday, so he didn't qualify for the victory as Chicago won 8-1.

In his four innings, Imanaga allowed two hits and struck out three, including Japanese countryman Shohei Ohtani in the first inning.

"He did his job, and he couldn't do anything more than that," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. "Mother Nature got in the way of it, but he pitched really well. His pitch count was certainly in a position for him to get deeper in the game."

Cubs first baseman Michael Busch was even more effusive in his praise for Imanaga.

"He's awesome," Busch said. "That guy, just watching his presence on the mound, there's something about him."

Imanaga, 30, a two-time All-Star in Japan who led the Central League in strikeouts last season before signing a four-year, $53 million deal with the Cubs, said through an interpreter that he didn't want to read too much into his first two starts.

"The season's going to be really long," Imanaga said, "so it's not necessarily anything to build confidence. I just want to make sure I stay healthy and then be able to pitch the whole season."

The Cubs have lost three of four since Imanaga's most recent start, including 4-2 Friday in the opener of the three-game interleague series in Seattle. Busch went 2-for-4 with a double and homer, going deep in the ninth inning.

The Mariners have won back-to-back games for only the second time this season as Bryce Miller allowed just one unearned run over 6 1/3 innings, Ty France went 2-for-4, and Julio Rodriguez drove in a pair of runs.

Rodriguez's two-run single in the fourth off Cubs starter Jordan Wicks gave the Mariners a 3-0 lead.

"I was only (thinking) fastball," Rodriguez said. "He had a really good fastball, and he had been playing it off really well. I was not really surprised that he threw it."

Seattle is scheduled to send right-hander Emerson Hancock (1-1, 11.42 ERA) to the mound on Saturday. He has never faced the Cubs.

After earning his first major league victory in his opening start of the season on April 1, Hancock was pounded 12-4 at Milwaukee on Sunday. He gave up eight runs on 11 hits in 3 1/3 innings, with one walk and six strikeouts.

"They did not chase the ball down at all," Mariners manager Scott Servais said of the Brewers' approach against Hancock. "They made him come up in the zone, and when he did, they put some pretty good swings on it."

--Field Level Media