After a nationally-televised walk-off helped thwart the plans for a sweep in New York, the Atlanta Braves are now returning home and looking to bounce back by taking their frustrations out on the visiting Chicago Cubs.
With that being said, any illusions that the Braves may have of this being a walk in the park have to be disposed of immediately as the Cubs are starting Shōta Imanaga for tonight’s contest. While it’s still relatively early on in the campaign, it’s become clear that Imanaga has made a seamless transition from NPB to MLB — he’s currently sitting on an ERA of 1.08 (ERA- of 27) and a FIP of 2.37 (FIP- of 61) and he’s currently in the top 10 of fWAR among starting pitchers so far. Imanaga has started seven games for the Cubs so far, he’s been the winning pitcher of record in five of those games and Chicago has won all seven of the games that he’s started so far.
Shōta Imanaga’s four-seamer has been nearly untouchable this season and he’s been leaning on that pitch alongside a split finger pitch that has also been effective whenever he utilizes it. Opposing hitters are hitting .140 against Imanaga’s four-seamer with an xBA of .219, while hitters have a .214 batting average against his splitter with an xBA of .177. He’s not overwhelming anybody with his velocity either, as his fastball usually sits at 92 mph and the rest of his repertoire sits below 90. He’s out there making his pitches and executing them to near-perfection so far. He’s currently in the 97th percentile when it comes to getting hitters to chase his stuff and it really wouldn’t be shocking to see a bunch of swings-and-misses while he’s on the mound tonight.
This figures to be another tough matchup for the Braves just one week after welcoming Kutter Crawford to Cobb County but at the same time, the Braves did manage to get Crawford to give up a home run and they did end up coming out of that game victorious. This lineup is tough for anybody to deal with and Shōta Imanaga will have to be on his game if he wants to keep the Braves quiet in their own ballpark.
On the other side of things, Reynaldo López is getting another start and he’ll certainly be looking to keep his string of solid starts going even further. Six days ago, López only gave up two runs (one earned) over 5.1 IP against the Red Sox in a game that the Braves eventually won 4-2. López may want to cut down on the walks, as that was what eventually got him into trouble on his way out of that aforementioned game against Boston.
It might really get him into trouble if he gets into that habit against the Cubs — Chicago’s offense is coming into this game with walk rate of 10.1 percent, which is tied for third place in all of baseball. We saw evidence of the patience over the weekend, which is when the Cubs scored seven runs in the fifth inning of their 10-9 loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday with six of those runs being bases-loaded walks.
While I’d be incredibly shocked if that “feat” was somehow repeated tonight, it’s still a cautionary tale that shows that this team will be incredibly patient at the plate if need be. The Cubs as an offense are pretty solid as well, as their team wRC+ of 106 has them in the top 10 in all of baseball and just behind the Braves and their team wRC+ of 110. Simply put, both pitchers are going to have their hands full when it comes to keeping these two particular lineups quiet. It’s one of those games where you can see a pitcher’s duel breaking out but you can also easily see a scenario where this could end up with both teams banging the ball all over the yard.
So yeah, this should be a very interesting game to watch. The Braves returned to solid form this past week and the Cubs are riding high into Cobb County after picking up a series win in Pittsburgh over the weekend. Both teams are looking good so far but someone’s got to lose — hopefully not the Braves, either!
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Monday, May 13, 7:20 p.m. ET
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia
TV: Bally Sports South, MLB Network (out-of-market only)
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
