Who also praised the "nightmare of hitting coaches," made a new ML history

In a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates held at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois on the 19th (Korea Standard Time), Imanaga recorded four hits, one walk and seven strikeouts in seven innings. He pitched 88 pitches, and hit four-seam (46 pitches), splitter (38 pitches), and curveball (4 pitches). His maximum speed of four-seam was 92.2 mph (148.4 km). The Cubs won the game 1-0, thanks to Christopher Morel's walk-off hit.토토사이트먹튀

A veteran left-hander with a 64-50 record and four-hold ERA of 3.18 in 165 games (1002 ⅔ innings) in eight seasons (2016-2023), Imanaga succeeded in entering the Major League this season by signing a four-year, $53 million (about 71.8 billion won) contract with the Cubs. Imanaga, who is having a successful debut season by winning the National League's Rookie of the Year award in April, is also showing good performances against teams with hit lines, raising expectations for the all-time debut season this season. He is considered a strong candidate for the National League Rookie of the Year with five wins (53 ⅔ innings) and a 0.84 ERA, while also being mentioned as a candidate for the Cy Young Award. In a mock vote conducted by the official major league media MLB.com on the 14th, he ranked third after Jack Wheeler (Philadelphia) and Tyler Glasnow (Dodgers), who ranked second.

MLBcom said after Imanaga's appearance on the 19th, "While the Cubs won 1-0 without losing a point, Imanaga lowered his ERA to 0.84. Since the ERA began to be officially counted in 1913, no pitcher has recorded such a low ERA in nine games (except the opener) of his first major league debut."

The pitcher with the lowest ERA in his first nine starts before Imana is Fernandez Valenzuela, who was a sensation with the Dodgers in 1981. At that time, Valenzuela had an ERA of 0.91 in his first nine games since his debut, and his season performance was 13-7 with a 2.48 ERA in 25 games (192 ⅓ innings), winning the National League Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young Award. In addition, Imana became the fourth-lowest ERA in nine games of the season after Jacob deGrom (0.62) in 2021, Juan Marical (0.69) in 1966, and Jack Greinke (0.82) in 2009, after the era of live ball dating back to 1920.

"Of course, it's a little surprising when you come into this level. I'm lucky to be able to see such a pitch," said Cubs manager Clegg Counsell. Cody Bellinger, who played for the Dodgers, said with a smile, "I couldn't play with Fernando. But if he had pitched like this, it would have been amazing."

Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton said, "This is going to be a nightmare for hitting coaches. A fastball is not a 94-95-mile (151-153 kilometers) fastball. But it is effective. He makes the ball move in all directions. The splitter is real. The ball moves from a strike to a ball. He has a really good decision-making ability," in complimenting the pitcher.

"I threw only 88 pitches on the day, but I'm struggling with fatigue in every game after throwing only seven innings," Imana said. "I was moving better toward the end of the game. Based on the number of pitches I threw, I could have thrown more. But based on what I felt, it's a different story."

"Honestly, I'm not that interested in my performance or historical value. But knowing that I had so many great pitchers in front of me, it's a great experience to learn a lot."