SEATTLE– Shota Imanaga notched his second Major League Baseball win after tossing 5-1/3 strong innings in the Chicago Cubs’ 4-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday.
Seiya Suzuki helped his Japanese teammate get the win by sending a solo home run deep over left-center field for a 2-1 Chicago lead in the top of the third inning at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.
Imanaga (2-0) struck out four and allowed one unearned run, on five hits and two walks.
“It felt like they used a thorough approach against me, and that I was fortunate to hold them to one run,” said Imanaga, who has yet to allow an earned run.
“I owe a debt of gratitude to my teammates for allowing me to reflect on this after we won. Thanks to Suzuki’s home run, I was able to pitch knowing that scoring another run off me would only tie it.”
In other MLB action Saturday, Masataka Yoshida drove in two runs in a 2-for-4 outing to help the Boston Red Sox beat the Angels 7-2 and snap a four-game skid at Fenway Park.
Yoshida broke the ice with an RBI single before scoring on Triston Casas’ two-run homer that gave the Red Sox a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. The Japanese designated hitter then put Boston up 6-0 with an RBI line-drive single to left in the second.
Kenta Maeda is still seeking his first win as a member of the Detroit Tigers after their 11-5, 12-inning loss to the Minnesota Twins in the opening game of a doubleheader.
The Japanese right-hander left the mound at Comerica Park with a 3-2 lead against his former club after a six-inning start in which he fanned five and allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits and no walks.
At Dodger Stadium, a single by catcher Kyle Higashioka broke up what had been five perfect innings for L.A. rookie starter Gavin Stone, and the Dodgers went on to defeat the San Diego Padres, 5-2.
On Sunday, Padres pitcher Yu Darvish got a no-decision after allowing three runs in five innings in a 6-3 come-from-behind victory over the Dodgers. He is 0-1 after five starts this season.
Darvish’s Japanese teammate Yuki Matsui (2-0) got the win with 1-1/3 scoreless innings of relief. Jurickson Profar gave the Padres the lead for good with a three-run double in the seventh.
Shohei Ohtani struck out twice against Darvish before finishing 1 for 4 with a single.
In Boston, Yoshida hit his first home run of the season in a 5-4 win over the Angels.
The DH blasted a two-run shot to right-center in the sixth inning off Jose Suarez, extending the Red Sox’s lead to 5-2 at Fenway Park.
Yoshida went 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a walk in his 16th game of the season.
“It took me many games to hit my first homer, but I’m glad I got it done,” Yoshida said. “I hope to get more hits in clutch situations.”
Outfielder and first baseman Yoshitomo Tsutsugo has decided to rejoin the DeNA BayStars in Japan’s Central League, a baseball source revealed Monday.
The 32-year-old former Japanese national team slugger departed for the U.S. after the 2019 season but could not establish himself with a Major League Baseball club.
Tsutsugo was drafted out of high school by the BayStars in 2010 and spent his entire 10-year Nippon Professional Baseball career with the Yokohama-based club, hitting 205 home runs. He led the CL in both homers and RBIs in 2016.
In a total of 182 major league games for the Tampa Bay Rays, the Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates between 2020 and 2022, Tsutsugo struggled to a .197 batting average with 18 home runs and 75 RBIs.
–Kyodo / Rafu Staff reports