The Chicago Cubs took down the Boston Red Sox in the first game of their three game series, 7-1. The Cubs got to Kutter Crawford early and often, peppering the Red Sox with base hits and constant action on the base paths. Shota Imanaga made it into the seventh inning, only allowing one run before handing the ball to Keegan Thompson, who shut the door on Boston for the rest of the night, securing the Cubs’ fourth consecutive victory.
Chicago Cubs Rookie Continues Great Start
Shota Imanaga added another impressive outing to start his career Friday night against the Boston Red Sox. The Japanese left-hander carved up the Red Sox lineup for 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run on five hits and one walk, striking out seven, needing only 88 pitches. Imanaga left with the 7-1 lead and Keegan Thompson took the mound for the rest of the night, blanking Boston for 2 2/3 innings, giving Imanaga his fourth win of the young season.
The Boston lineup couldn’t hit Imanaga’s fastball, chasing up in the zone and unable to square it up on the corners of the strike zone. The lone salvo for the Red Sox was a Tyler O’Neill home run in the fourth inning to cut the Chicago lead to 3-1. O’Neill was the only Boston hitter to register more than one hit on the night. The other five hits were spread throughout the Red Sox lineup.
Chicago Cubs Lineup Chases Crawford
The Cubs racked up 14 hits Friday night. The scoring started in the second inning with Matt Mervis and Pete Crow-Armstrong driving in runs with singles off Boston starter Kutter Crawford. Crawford, who had the league’s best ERA coming into the game, couldn’t miss the Cubs’ bats, giving up 10 hits over his six innings of work.
Despite the constant traffic, Crawford only let up three earned runs, with the final earned run he allowed coming in to score in the fourth. Crawford fielded a bunt laid down by Pete Crow-Armstrong and after glancing at Dansby Swanson on third, turned and fired to first. Once Crawford looked away, Swanson took off down the line and beat the throw back to the plate. Chicago scored an unearned run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from break-out star Michael Busch that sent Mike Tauchman home. Crawford would stay in for one more inning.
As soon as the Cubs got to the Boston bullpen, they pounced for their biggest scoring inning of the contest. Joely Rodriguez came in first from the Red Sox pen and gave up a three-run seventh inning. Christopher Morel registered one of his two hits driving in Mike Tauchman on a single and Patrick Wisdom drove in Morel and Michael Busch with a double.
Finishing the Job
For the second straight game the Cubs got outstanding long-relief performances out of the bullpen. Thursday belonged to Hayden Wesneski, who threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings against the Houston Astros. Friday belonged to Keegan Thompson. Thompson took over for Imanaga with one out in the seventh and a runner on. After stranding Bobby Dalbec, Thompson posted two more scoreless frames to close out the ball game.
Looking Ahead
The Chicago Cubs secured their fourth straight win and did so in dominant fashion against Boston on Friday. They will try to make it five on Saturday in the second of three against the Red Sox. Chicago will trot out rookie Ben Brown, who will be making his third start of the year. The Red Sox plan to start Josh Winckowski, who will be making his second start of the year.
First pitch is scheduled for 3:10 PM CST.
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