Game Recap: SHO-Time returns as Cubs earn series split against Cards

Rick Scuteri - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 8 hours ago

ST. LOUIS - For the first time in nearly two months, the Chicago Cubs (48-33) left-hander Shota Imanaga was back on a big league mound to make his first start since his Hamstring injury. His return couldn't have come at a better time, as the Cubs rotation has been struggling of late, which is why their lead in the NL Central has dwindled.

Looking to earn a series split against the St. Louis Cardinals (44-38), Imanaga essentially becomes a pre-trade deadline pickup for the Cubs as he hopes to be fresh the rest of the way. Despite being on a pitch count for his first, if not first two, starts coming back, Imanaga didn't miss a beat as he tossed five shutout innings for his first career start at Busch Stadium, leading the Cubs to a 3-0 win.

Unlike last season, where Imanaga managed to get away with fly balls due to his high swing and miss rate, that swing and miss rate isn't there this season, as teams have done a great job making contact. You saw that again today with his one walk and three strikeouts, but fortunately for Imanaga, he was able to limit the damage to give the Cubs a strong return.

Chicago needed him to be on his A-game as Andre Pallente took the ball for the Cardinals, who, despite some high-stress innings, delivered a strong outing of his own to allow two runs in five innings. The first of those runs came on a Michael Busch solo shot in the second as he became the first Busch/Bush player in MLB history to homer in any of the Busch Stadiums.

Had the Cubs not scored the rest of the way, that run would have been enough to win, but given the way the Cardinals' offense played in the first two games, they couldn't have had that mindset, even with Imanaga retiring 10 straight and 11 of 13 to start. For the most part, Pallante was just as good as Imanaga, but there were moments when he began to lose his feel for his pitches, which happened in the fourth inning.

Once again, it was Busch getting involved in the action as his one-out single put another runner on base for the Cubs. That was followed by singles from Carson Kelly and Nico Hoerner as the Cubs had the bases loaded and one out. What looked to be a line drive double off the bat of Matt Shaw resulted in an out as Nolan Arenado made the play.

Those have a tendency to kill a rally, and for the most part, it did, but Ian Happ still managed to get one run home as he took a bases-loaded walk to make this a 2-0 game. Not only was that the final run until late in the game, but it was also most of the action, as both bullpens took over in the fifth and started to make things difficult for the offenses.

As good as the Cubs' bullpen has been, there have been some cracks in the armor as of late, but the one guy who continues to pitch well is Brad Keller, who entered Thursday with one earned run over his last 26 innings, which comes out to a 0.34 ERA. After taking over for Caleb Thielbar, who tossed 1 1/3 scoreless frames in relief of Imanaga, Keller struggled to find his rhythm early as he walked the first two hitters he faced to set the Cardinals' offense up.

Despite that, Keller stood tall when he had to make some clutch pitches to escape the jam as the Cardinals' scoreless streak reached 21 innings at this point. Looking to tack on some late-game runs against Jojo Romero and the Cardinals' pen, Pete Crow-Armstrong opened the eighth inning with an infield single as the Cubs had the runner on base that they wanted.

PCA would reach third on a Dansby Swanson hit a few pitches later, before Swanson purposely got into a rundown between first and second, which allowed Crow-Armstrong to steal home and extend the Cubs' lead to 3-0. That would be the final run for either side, but this is the Cubs and Cardinals, and as expected, there was some late-game drama set to unfold.

With Daniel Palencia on to secure the save in the ninth, the Cardinals were in prime position to make some noise as Alec Burleson led things off with a leadoff double. That was followed by a Willson Contreras hit by pitch that not only brought the tying run to the plate, but also saw both benches empty in what was a little bit of a scuffle.

They may not have been a wise decision for Contreras or the Cardinals, as that scuffle seemed to lock Palencia in, as he responded with three consecutive strikeouts to finish the game, securing his eighth save of the season.

What started could have been an ugly series, given how it began, wound up being what you expected, as these teams seem to split every year.

This game also marked the midway point of the regular season, and if the Cubs maintain this pace, they will win 96 games this season. Next up for the Cubs is a weekend trip to Houston, as Tucker will return to Houston for the first time since his offseason trade.