Shota Imanaga surrendered a season-best five runs across five innings and absorbed his initial defeat of the year as the Chicago Cubs fell to the Texas Rangers with a score of 6-2 on Wednesday.
Imanaga (2-1) recorded four strikeouts but gave up seven hits, including two home runs. The Japanese southpaw was taken out of the game after the Rangers surged ahead with a four-run fifth inning at Wrigley Field.
In the fifth inning, there were times when I thought things were going well for me, which made it somewhat disheartening," he stated. "Those opportunities could turn into a significant scoring frame if you aren’t cautious enough during such instances.
Corey Seager, the Rangers' shortstop, hit two home runs, including one against Imanaga in the first inning, which helped his team evade a series sweep.
Seiya Suzuki had two hits out of four at-bats and drove in one run while hitting third in the Cubs' lineup as the designated hitter.
At Nationals Park, Shohei Ohtani had a 2-for-4 performance including a walk and two runs scored, extending his consecutive on-base streak to an MLB career-high of 14 games starting from Opening Day, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers secure a 6-5 victory over the Washington Nationals.
Yusei Kikuchi from the Los Angeles Angels started off poorly as he recorded zero wins and two losses; despite striking out five batters, he conceded four runs over six innings in their 5-4 defeat against the Tampa Bay Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
