Cubs turn to Shota Imanaga in bid for sweep of Rangers

The Chicago Cubs will go for the sweep with their ace pitcher on the mound when they host the Texas Rangers on Wednesday afternoon in the finale of the teams' three-game interleague series.

Chicago left-hander Shota Imanaga (2-0, 0.98 ERA) will face off against Texas right-hander Tyler Mahle (1-0, 1.35).

The Cubs have made all the right plays and had hits at all the right times in the first two games of the series.

On Monday, they rode seven strong innings from Justin Steele and a 10-hit attack to win 7-0. The Tuesday game saw Chicago and Texas go toe to toe in the frigid wind chill before two Rangers errors set the table for Dansby Swanson's deciding two-run single in the eighth inning of the Cubs' 10-6 win.

Swanson finished with four RBIs while Pete Crow-Armstrong, Nico Hoerner and Seiya Suzuki knocked in two runs apiece. Porter Hodge (1-0), the third of four Chicago pitchers, blew a lead but wound up with the win thanks to the Cubs' four-run, eighth-inning uprising.

Both Chicago and Texas had 12 hits in the game, with the Rangers' attack led by Josh Jung's three hits and one RBI, two hits (one of them a solo homer) by Wyatt Langford and two hits each by Corey Seager and Leody Taveras.

Jung was playing his first game after a 10-day stint on the injured list, having recovered from neck stiffness.

Chris Martin (0-1) was charged with four unearned runs while lasting just two-thirds of an inning.

Mahle was sharp in his most recent start, a five-inning scoreless stint in a 5-2 home win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. He allowed only one hit and walked two while striking out seven. It was a great bounce-back from Mahle's season-opening game in which he lasted 1 2/3 innings and yielded a run on two hits and four walks while throwing 61 pitches against the Boston Red Sox.

"I think that first start was maybe a little bit of a fluke," Texas catcher Kyle Higashioka said. "Tyler was throwing the ball so well coming into the season. He was throwing a lot of strikes (vs. Tampa Bay), locating the fastball, keeping guys off balance, and the off-speed stuff looked good, too."

Mahle is set to make his sixth regular-season appearance since coming back from Tommy John surgery he underwent in May 2023 while with the Minnesota Twins. He made three appearances for Texas last August, going 0-1 with a 4.97 ERA, before the team shut him down for the season due to right shoulder tightness.

In 14 career starts against the Cubs, Mahle is 5-4 with a 4.31 ERA.

Imanaga also comes into Wednesday matinee after an impressive outing, when he allowed one run on four hits over 7 1/3 innings on Friday against visiting San Diego. He struck out four and did not allow a walk as Chicago beat the previously undefeated Padres 3-1.

"I say it a lot, but Shota gives us a chance to make plays, and I think we have a really good team for that," Crow-Armstrong said. "Shota did what Shota does, got us involved, and that's all we can ask from him."

Imanaga added, "I know this ballpark very well this time of year, so just keeping that in the back of my head and continuing to pitch."

Imanaga's production largely mirrored that of his previous start in which he went seven frames and allowed a run on three hits in a Cubs' 4-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix.

Imanaga will be opposing the Rangers for the first time in his two-year major league career.

--Field Level Media