The only thing working against Shota Imanaga on Friday afternoon was his pitch count.
The Pittsburgh Pirates waited until the Chicago Cubs left-handed starter was out of the game before collecting their first hits.
They made the most of them, as Bryan Reynolds’ two-run homer in the seventh against reliever Caleb Thielbar lifted the Pirates to a 2-0 victory at Wrigley Field.
The Pirates finished with just three hits, none coming before the seventh when Ryan O’Hearn led off with a single to break up the no- hitter, and Reynolds deposited the first pitch he saw over the left-field wall for his third homer of the season.
Like the rest of his teammates, Reynolds did nothing in the first six innings against Imanaga, who struck out nine and faced just one batter over the minimum.
“I’m glad his pitch count got up because he was running through us pretty good,” Reynolds said on the Sports Net Pittsburgh post-game show.
The Pirates haven’t lost back-to-back games since the first two of the season, but it looked like they would have a losing streak with the way Imanaga was pitching.
In five career starts against the Pirates, Imanaga has a 2-0 record and one earned run allowed over 32 innings, for an 0.80 ERA. In that span, he has 32 strikeouts and seven walks.
But with Imanaga’s pitch count at 100, Cubs manager Craig Counsell decided to go to his bullpen.
“Imanaga threw the ball well, and he does against us,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “Typically, if he’s rolling along against us, he’s going seven, eight innings and won’t even get to 100 pitches. To get him to 100, even though we weren’t getting hits necessarily, I thought we put up a good fight and had some decent at-bats.”
The results were apparent immediately after Imanaga’s exit.
O’Hearn opened the seventh with a single off the left-handed Thielbar. Reynolds followed with his laser into the first row of the left-field seats.
“When somebody is cutting through your lineup, it’s nice to get him out,” Reynolds said. “It’s like a second wind when you get someone else in the game.”
Five Pirates pitchers combined on a six-hit shutout. The Pirates also issued seven walks, and the Cubs left 11 on base.
Mason Montgomery left the bases loaded in the sixth to collect the win in relief of Carmen Mlodzinski. Dennis Santana pitched a perfect ninth for his first save.
Mlodzinski took the no-decision despite pitching 5 1/3 scoreless innings during which he allowed six hits and three walks but found a way to wiggle out of danger.
“Carmen did an awesome job filling up the zone and working through some traffic there,” Kelly said.
Mlodzinski benefited from double plays to erase baserunners in the first two innings. He stranded two in the third.
A four-pitch walk to No. 9 hitter Dansby Swanson put runners on first and second with one out. Mlodzinski regrouped and got an infield pop-up and a flyout to center to escape the threat.
Mlodzinski got out of a bases-loaded jam in fourth. The inning began with Oneil Cruz making a sliding catch in center that loomed large after what transpired next.
An infield single, which was awarded on a replay challenge, and a single put runners on first and second. A two-out walk loaded the bases, but Mlodzinski got Moises Ballesteros to line his first pitch directly to left fielder Reynolds.
The way his mound opponent was pitching, Mlodzinski had little margin for error.
“I really was just trying to keep pace with him,” he said.
Mlodzinski finally had a perfect inning in the fifth before he exited in the sixth with one out and runners on first and second courtesy of hits by Alex Bregman and Mt. Lebanon’s Ian Happ.
Montgomery sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around a walk, getting pinch-hitter Matt Shaw to go down swinging for the third out. The final pitch was a 100 mph fastball that Shaw swung through.
“That last pitch I was like, ‘All right, I’m going to throw it as hard as I can,’ ” Montgomery said.
The Cubs also left the bases loaded in the eighth against Gregory Soto. Shaw again made the third out, sending a fly ball to right field.
“They were lights out,” Reynolds said of the bullpen. “They had a couple of tough situations with runners on, bases loaded, but they got out of it every time. They didn’t give in and kept going. Great job by them.”
Notes: Cruz extended his hitting streak to a season-high nine games with a single in the seventh inning. He reached twice in three plate appearances. … Nick Yorke batted leadoff for the first time this season. … Billy Cook made his first start in right field, becoming the fifth player to start there in the first 13 games.