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Shōta Imanaga was absolutely magnificent Friday at Wrigley Field.

He allowed just one baserunner, a two-out walk in the second inning. (More on that later.) He struck out nine.

Imanaga had to be removed after six innings, having thrown 100 pitches. No one quibbles with that. He was the first Cubs pitcher to throw 100 pitches this year. In fact, out of 376 games started in 2026 before Friday, just 26 pitchers (6.9 percent) had thrown 100 or more pitches, with the most being 109 by Robbie Ray of the Giants this past Tuesday.

Caleb Thielbar, who’s been so good out of the pen since the beginning of last year, wasn’t today. A leadoff single by Ryan O’Hearn in the seventh spoiled any thought of a combined no-hitter and then Bryan Reynolds’ homer gave the Pirates a 2-0 lead that they did not give up, and that was the final score on a chilly Friday at Wrigley Field, a 2-0 Cubs loss.

This is largely because the Cubs had baserunners all over the place but could not do anything with them. Runners in the first and second came to naught because Alex Bregman (first) and Pete Crow-Armstrong (second) hit into inning-ending double playes. The Cubs had two on with one out in the third — nothing doing. They loaded the bases with two out in the fourth, but Moisés Ballesteros flied to left. They loaded the bases again with two out in the sixth, and Matt Shaw, batting for Ballesteros, struck out.

There was one last potential rally for the Cubs in the eighth. Again, they had a runner in scoring position with two out, but Shaw flied to right.

If you are counting — and helpfully, that boxscore link does that for you — that’s 0-for-8 for the Cubs with RISP and 11 men left on base. They had six hits and drew six walks and, well, teams should score more than zero runs with all those baserunners. Just to give you an idea how rare it is to not score at all with that many runners, here’s BCB’s JohnW53:

The Cubs had been shut out in only five previous games since 1901 with at least six hits and at least seven walks, their totals today. This was the first by 2-0.
The previous five:
April 10, 1979: lost at St. Louis, 7-0 (seven hits, seven walks)
May 19, 1985: lost at Atlanta, 3-0 (seven hits, eight walks)
May 17, 1991: lost at Philadelphia, 1-0, in 16 innings (10 hits, nine walks)
May 7, 2008: lost at Cincinnati, 9-0 (six hits, seven walks)
Aug. 22, 2011: lost at home to the Braves, 3-0

So let’s at least give props to Imanaga for an outstanding outing. He struck out nine [VIDEO].

Here’s more on Shōta’s start [VIDEO].

And still more from John:

Shōta Imanaga’s start was just the fifth by a Cub since 1901 in which he gave up no hits, threw at least 6.0 innings and did not complete a nine-inning no-hitter. Imanaga also was the last to do it, going 7.0 vs. the Pirates at Wrigley Field on Sept. 4, 2024.

The three others:
King Cole, on July 31, 1910, in a seven-inning game at St. Louis
Zach Davies, on June 24, 2021, with 6.0 at Los Angeles vs. the Dodgers
Ben Brown, on May 28, 2024, with 7.0 at Milwaukee

There was some good Cubs defense. After Reynolds’ homer, Marcell Ozuna hit a ball to right-center that PCA ran down [VIDEO].

At the beginning of this recap, I mentioned I’d have more on Imanaga’s walk. That’s because… it shouldn’t have been a walk:

As you can see, pitch 9, which was called ball four, was a strike. The Cubs opted not to use an ABS challenge on this pitch, which I suppose I can understand that early in a scoreless game. On the other hand, if they had… the inning would have been over and it would have saved Imanaga the five pitches he had to then use to strike out Konnor Griffin to actually end the inning.

Only you can’t necessarily assume that, because the sequencing would have been different with Griffin then leading off the third. So who knows? I assume the Cubs brass will discuss this and decide whether, in the future, they might want to challenge a pitch like this.

Anyway, the offense, or lack thereof, is what made this a frustrating game. After Thielbar, Ethan Roberts and Riley Martin set the Pirates down with no further damage, giving the Cubs at least a chance to come back, but they could not. The Pirates appear to be a better team this year than last, so hopefully the Cubs will be better prepared for the rest of this series.

Saturday, Edward Cabrera, who’s been excellent so far this year, will try to help the Cubs even up the series. Braxton Ashcraft goes for Pittsburgh. Game time is again 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.

David Peterson has had a disappointing start to his 2026 season.

After making his first All-Star Game a year ago, the Mets southpaw has stumbled out of the game with three subpar starts, including back-to-back outings where he's allowed five earned runs. 

But for Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns, it's still a small sample size and he believes Peterson will right the ship.

"Petey, I’m sure the last two haven’t gone the way he wanted, haven’t gone the way we wanted," Stearns told the media ahead of the team's series opener against the Athletics on Friday. "But we believe in who he is as a pitcher. He's a great competitor, and I think he'll put this past him."

Across his first three starts, Peterson has allowed 11 runs (10 earned) across 14.2 innings pitched. His ERA stands at 6.14 and the Mets are 1-2 in his starts. 

Following Peterson's latest loss, there were questions as to whether his place in the rotation should be reconsidered, especially with Sean Manaea pitching effectively in long relief.

Stearns is confident that Manaea will make starts for the Mets in 2026 and doesn't necessarily have to replace someone in the rotation to do it. 

"My expectation, just based on my experience of how many starters you need over the course of a major league season, is that Sean’s going to make a bunch of starts for us this year," Stearns said. "He’s very capable of doing that. We’ve seen some progress over the last couple of outings and that’s good to see. I give Sean a lot of credit for understandably being disappointed, but then going down there and helping the team, and he has helped us every time he’s taken the ball down there."

After experiencing decreased velocity in spring, Manaea broke camp in the bullpen. He's made three appearances, allowing three runs across 9.0 innings. While the velocity isn't where it was at his peak, it has improved and Manaea's pitching overall continues to trend in the right direction. 

Should we expect Craig Kimbrel up with the Mets?

Stearns was asked about the prospect of Kimbrel joining the club this season and if there's a timeline for that to happen.

While Stearns didn't go into details on whether the veteran reliever has any opt-outs, he was happy at what he saw from him in his first rehab assignment. 

Pitching for Port St. Lucie, Kimbrel worked a clean inning and struck a batter out.

"Craig threw the ball well yesterday. That was very good to see," Stearns said. "We continue to believe he can help us this year; he wants to help us. We have a stable pen so far. We haven’t made a move, but eventually we will. He’s certainly a candidate when we have an opportunity."

With Manaea giving them length and saving the bullpen twice, the Mets relievers are relatively rested and have been generally effective. But as Stearns said with Manaea, it's a long season and Kimbrel's name is likely to be called upon sooner rather than later.  

Jose Franco played the role of long man in the Cincinnati Reds bullpen through the first two weeks of the 2026 season. He’s a starter by trade – and a promising one, at that – but manager Terry Francona needed to lean on him in that role given the banged-up nature of the rest of his pitching staff at the moment.

Franco mopped up Thursday’s 8-1 loss to the Miami Marlins in the series finale in south Florida, throwing 43 pitches to get through 2.0 IP. It was his second multi-inning outing of the week, and the gassed Reds bullpen simply needed another fresh arm. So, it was unsurprising to see Franco optioned back to AAA Louisville on Friday as the team brought up righty Kyle Nicolas to take his spot on the roster.

MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon relayed the news on Bluesky.

Nicolas came to the Reds in exchange for Tyler Callihan during spring training, though he was away with Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic at the time. So, it took a bit of time for the Reds to fully understand exactly what they had in him, and he began the year with AAA Louisville to get his feet wet within the new organization despite having appeared in 82 games at the big league level across the previous two seasons.

Nicolas allowed an earned run in his first appearance of the season with the Bats back on March 31st but has since fired 3.1 IP of scoreless ball with just a lone hit and a 6/2 K/BB. His high velocity stuff will play just about anywhere in the Cincinnati bullpen, though it would certainly appear now that they’re going to operate without a ‘long man’ until Nick Lodolo returns from his blister issue and someone gets bumped back from the rotation.

Cincinnati begins a weekend series (and 6-game homestand) on Friday night at Great American Ball Park, and they’ll do so with Chase Burns on the mound and the Los Angeles Angels in town. First pitch in that one is set for 6:45 PM ET as the game is being broadcast by Apple TV. Here’s how the Reds are going to line up for the opener:

And yes, it appears they’re going to wear their awful city connect uniforms once again.

The Seattle Mariners honored Hall of Fame outfielder Ichiro Suzuki with a statue outside of T-Mobile Park Friday, April 10, but the unveiling didn't go exactly as planned.

As the cover was pulled off revealing Suzuki's statue, onlookers, including former Mariners greats Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez, took notice of a bent and broken baseball bat on the bronze sculpture of the Mariners legend in his iconic stance at the plate.

"There was a fastball inside," joked Rick Rizzs, the lead radio voice of the Mariners who presided over Friday's ceremony, "but he still got a base hit! ... "What a remarkable piece of art."

Those in attendance found humor in the awkward situation, and the statue was fixed within the hour.

Suzuki played 28 years of professional baseball, including 19 season in Major League Baseball. He began his MLB career in 2001 with the Mariners and played there until 2012. In that span, he absolutely dominated. He was a spectacle to see. He was named AL Rookie of the Year and MVP in 2001. He also won Silver Slugger Award, AL batting champion and was AL stolen base leader.

His 2001 season was no fluke. Suzuki was an All-Star and Gold Glove Award winner in each of his first 10 seasons. He amassed a record 262 hits in 2004, a mark that still stands.

He finished his career with 3,089 hits in 9,934 at-bats for a .311 batting average; needless to say, his bat on the field rarely malfunctioned. Suzuki hit 117 career home runs, drove in 780 runs with a .757 OPS. He had 509 career stolen bases.

Suzuki's No. 51 was retired by Mariners on August 9, 2025. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame a month earlier.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Seattle Mariners' Ichiro Suzuki statue includes broken baseball bat

Here are the lineups. For the Phillies:

For the Diamondbacks:

Let’s talk about it.

The Mets have received good news on Jorge Polanco. 

The veteran infielder underwent an MRI on Thursday which revealed that there is no structural damage with his Achilles and he is dealing with bursitis, manager Carlos Mendoza said. 

Polanco remains day-to-day, but is not expected to require a stint on the IL. 

"It was good for all of us that mentally, now we know what we're dealing with," Mendoza said. "We know that there is nothing with the tendon and the area there, and now with the medication and the treatment that he's getting we'll make some adjustments and we'll go from there."

The team expects that the medication will help Polanco's Achilles heel, but they want to make sure he isn't putting too much pressure on the area for the time-being. 

Hitting and running both feel fine, but they will continue to limit him defensively as he recovers.   

Polanco took some swings when he came in ahead of Friday's series opener against the Athletics, and Mendoza expects that he should be available as a player off the bench. 

The 32-year-old has just eight hits through 40 at-bats so far this season. 

Juan Soto progressing as planned

To this point, David Stearns says Soto is progressing as the team would expect. 

"He's moving around indoors," the president of baseball ops said. "The key at this point is let's make sure he doesn't get de-conditioned and let's keep him going so that when the calf is fully ready, we don't have this lengthy ramp up.

"I don't have a specific, on this day he's going to start running, on this day he's going to hit on the field -- we don't have that yet, but we're optimistic this is not going to be a particularly long-term absence right now."

Soto, of course, also hit and played catch earlier this week.

When the Mets placed him on the IL on Monday (retroactive to Saturday), they noted that a typical return to play for this type of injury is two-to-three weeks.

Wham, Bam, here comes Pham

Tommy Pham officially kicked off his return to the Mets on Thursday in Low-A. 

The veteran went 1-for-3 with a single in his first at-bat, and he scored a run in the suspended game. 

Mendoza doesn't have an exact number of plate appearances Pham will need before potentially becoming an option in the majors, but he doesn't think that he's too far off. 

Pham will take the next step to Triple-A Syracuse soon, and then they'll go from there. 

The 33-year-old rejoined the Mets on a minor league deal on Opening Day, and he'll look to provide another veteran presence and outfield depth at the big-league level.

He remained a steady option for the Pirates last season, finishing with 28 XBH's and a .700 OPS.