Left-hander Shota Imanaga was on the injured list with a strained left hamstring when the Chicago Cubs swept the visiting White Sox from May 16-18.
On Friday, he’s set to get the start as the crosstown series shifts to Rate Field, a proposition that might not bode well for the host South Side club despite winning five of six since the All-Star break.
That’s because Imanaga (7-3, 2.40 ERA) has been dominant since returning to the rotation in late June.
He has pitched to a 2.13 ERA in 25 1/3 innings while winning three of his four July starts. He is coming off a home win against Boston on Saturday, when he spaced five hits, one walk and five strikeouts across seven scoreless innings.
“Look, when you miss six or seven weeks, you don’t expect to come back in peak form,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “It happens, but it’s hard to do. But he’s pitched really well.
“And that’s the nature of pitching. You get locked in for 90 pitches and the next start doesn’t promise you anything. You have to get locked in again. Shota is just so good at getting people out.”
Cubs starters largely struggled with that objective during this week’s home series against Kansas City. The Royals took two of three at Wrigley Field, outscoring the Cubs 20-8 around Chicago’s combined six-hit shutout victory on Tuesday.
Pete Crow-Armstrong and Matt Shaw swatted solo home runs in an 8-4 defeat in Wednesday’s series finale.
The White Sox, meantime, rallied for an 11-9 victory at Tampa Bay later Wednesday to earn a series win. A six-run eighth inning propelled the club, which previously answered the Rays’ four-run first with four runs in the second.
“The group, they’re playing well, complementing each other, they trust each other,” White Sox manager Will Venable said. “They’ve created something real; they feel extremely confidence and are going out there and doing their job and they want to do it for each other.”
The White Sox needed 21 games to notch five victories in the first half.
While veteran center fielder Luis Robert Jr. enters Friday with a nine-game hitting streak, the team’s rising crop of rookies also is shining. Shortstop Colson Montgomery has homered in successive games. Catcher Kyle Teel on Wednesday collected a career-best four hits, including his first major league home run.
“It’s just guys kind of finding their comfortability in the big leagues,” right-hander Jonathan Cannon said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys, and it takes time to acclimate, like feel like you belong and kind of to get that talent level, and you just are seeing a lot of young guys start to put it together and figure out what it takes.”
Veteran right-hander Adrian Houser (5-2, 1.89) will get the call for the White Sox on Friday.
Houser is 3-2 with a 3.98 ERA in 54 1/3 innings over 15 career appearances against the Cubs, including nine starts. He took a no-decision at Pittsburgh on Saturday, scattering four runs (three earned) and 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings. He’s 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA in three July starts.
Imanaga took a no-decision in his lone career start against the White Sox on June 4, 2024. He surrendered seven hits and five runs (one earned) in 4 1/3 innings. That included a solo home run off the bat of White Sox infielder Lenyn Sosa.