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    Cubs-Padres Game Two Thread: Imanaga's Opener Is A Necessary Evil

    The Padres face the prospect of elimination if they can't win today at Wrigley Field.
    Brandon Glick

    By Brandon Glick

    Image courtesy of © David Banks-Imagn Images

    Cubs Video

    Chicago will treat today as a tandem day on the mound: Andrew Kittredge will open, then Shota Imanaga will follow with a bulk outing. Kittredge worked a clean eighth yesterday. This season, he has held right-handed hitters to a .690 OPS and left-handed hitters to a .541 OPS while his season FIP sits at 3.40. Over his last six starts, Imanaga has a 5.97 ERA with 12 home runs allowed in 34 2/3 innings, and he has allowed 31 homers in 144 2/3 frames this year. 

    Imanaga Against Padres Hitters

    Shota Imanaga vs. San Diego Padres: Current Batters Table
    Rk Player B PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS SH SF IBB HBP GIDP
    1 Luis Arráez L 10 9 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .111 .200 .111 .311 0 0 0 0 0
    2 Xander Bogaerts R 9 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
    3 Manny Machado R 9 9 1 0 0 1 1 0 6 .111 .111 .444 .556 0 0 0 0 0
    4 Fernando Tatis Jr. R 9 8 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .375 .444 .375 .819 0 0 0 0 0
    5 Jake Cronenworth L 6 6 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 .333 .333 .500 .833 0 0 0 0 0
    6 Martín Maldonado R 6 5 1 0 0 1 1 1 2 .200 .333 .800 1.133 0 0 0 0 1
    7 Jose Iglesias R 4 4 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 .750 .750 1.000 1.750 0 0 0 0 0
    8 Jackson Merrill L 3 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 .333 .333 .667 1.000 0 0 0 0 0
    9 Freddy Fermin R 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .500 .000 .500 0 0 0 1 0
    10 Gavin Sheets L 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
    Provided by Stathead.com: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
    Generated 10/1/2025.

    Dylan Cease draws a conventional start for San Diego. His overall season included ups and downs, but his September trend was upward: in five starts last month, he recorded a 3.12 ERA with a 2.56 FIP.

    Cease Against Cubs Hitters

    Dylan Cease vs. Chicago Cubs: Current Batters Table
    Rk Player B PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS SH SF IBB HBP GIDP
    1 Ian Happ B 24 21 1 0 0 0 0 3 10 .048 .167 .048 .214 0 0 0 0 1
    2 Willi Castro B 23 23 5 0 0 1 2 0 8 .217 .217 .348 .565 0 0 0 0 0
    3 Kyle Tucker L 14 12 4 1 0 0 1 2 3 .333 .429 .417 .845 0 0 1 0 0
    4 Nico Hoerner R 13 9 2 1 0 0 0 3 2 .222 .462 .333 .795 0 0 1 1 0
    5 Michael Busch L 9 8 2 0 0 2 4 1 4 .250 .333 1.000 1.333 0 0 0 0 0
    6 Justin Turner R 8 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .125 .125 .125 .250 0 0 0 0 0
    7 Pete Crow-Armstrong L 5 4 2 1 0 0 1 1 1 .500 .600 .750 1.350 0 0 0 0 0
    8 Dansby Swanson R 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
    9 Reese McGuire L 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
    10 Seiya Suzuki R 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
    11 Matt Shaw R 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0 0 0 0 0
    Provided by Stathead.com: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
    Generated 10/1/2025.

    Bullpen usage from yesterday shapes how both sides can deploy relief behind today’s starters. For Chicago, Matthew Boyd covered 4 1/3 innings before the bullpen recorded a postseason-record stretch by retiring 14 consecutive batters without a baserunner. Daniel Palencia handled 1 2/3 innings, followed by one inning each from Drew Pomeranz, Kittredge, and Brad Keller. 

    San Diego used four relievers behind Nick Pivetta’s five innings. Mason Miller pitched the 7th inning. Adrian Morejon covered one inning. Jeremiah Estrada worked 2/3 of an inning, and Wandy Peralta recorded the final 1/3 of the 8th. That usage left the Padres’ late-inning group relatively fresh for today, with Cease on a standard starter’s workload. 

    Matchup-wise, Kittredge’s opening inning will likely see him face Fernando Tatis Jr., Luis Arraez, and Manny Machado. The Cubs used him yesterday in that same section of the order. Once Imanaga enters, Chicago can stagger right-on-left plate appearances with him and their bullpen cavalry.

    Writer | Director | Author

    Short Film: Path of Two Minds
    Novel: The Great, Horrible Tragedy

    Follow Brandon Glick on Twitter: brandonglick (on BlueSky)

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    Featured Comments

    soccer10k

    soccer10k 546

    Posted

    Nice job, Shota, after the double.

    Jason Ross

    Jason Ross 2,541

    Posted

    Big outs. Alright. Bottom of the order magic. Let's go.

    gflore34

    gflore34 966

    Posted

    PCA has not put the ball in play, what's record for consecutive K's in the post season?

    Manny Trillos Brother

    Manny Trillos Brother 15

    Posted

    These announcers are just terrible. "Fernando Tatis should hit it in the gap instead of popping up" is both obvious and dumb. It's like ESPN/ABC told them "no one watching knows anything about baseball, just be as basic as you can possibly be".

    Brian707

    Brian707 1,519

    Posted

    Where is Ding Dong to call a Dong?

    chibears55

    chibears55 799

    Posted

    Who said Shota can't get the top of order out?  Lol

    JHBulls

    JHBulls 856

    Posted

    So weird that the home plate ump deferred that check swing to the 1st base ump. It was a strike ffs lol. That literally should have been the call. 

    UMFan83

    UMFan83 3,016

    Posted

    Seiya has been solid defensively but I'm sorry he should not be waving off any fly balls that PCA can get to.  Every time he goes to catch a fly ball I have flashbacks of the drops against Atlanta and Cincinnati.

    Hortonhearsawho

    Hortonhearsawho 84

    Posted

    Good job from Shota for stranding the runner after giving up the lead off double. 2 might have been enough for them with the wind blowing in hard and our lack of offense. 

    UMFan83

    UMFan83 3,016

    Posted

    Just now, chibears55 said:

    Who said Shota can't get the top of order out?  Lol

    No one.  They said he's been struggling in the first inning so lets have his first inning be against a more lefty heavy part of the lineup and have one less time against their best hitters.

    chibears55

    chibears55 799

    Posted

    Just now, JHBulls said:

    So weird that the home plate ump deferred that check swing to the 1st base ump. It was a strike ffs lol. That literally should have been the call. 

    Thought that was funny too..

     

    • Like 1
    Jason Ross

    Jason Ross 2,541

    Posted

    Just now, UMFan83 said:

    No one.  They said he's been struggling in the first inning so lets have his first inning be against a more lefty heavy part of the lineup and have one less time against their best hitters.

    That and this time was his 1st time facing Tatis and Machado. We can assume the numbers will be worse the 2nd and the 3rd time, so this was a great time for him to see them a first time instead of a second.

    mul21

    mul21 1,135

    Posted

    1 minute ago, UMFan83 said:

    Seiya has been solid defensively but I'm sorry he should not be waving off any fly balls that PCA can get to.  Every time he goes to catch a fly ball I have flashbacks of the drops against Atlanta and Cincinnati.

    I think that drifted more toward center as it got out there and if it was a non-windy day it wouldn't have looked as weird.

    UMFan83

    UMFan83 3,016

    Posted

    Just now, Hortonhearsawho said:

    Good job from Shota for stranding the runner after giving up the lead off double. 2 might have been enough for them with the wind blowing in hard and our lack of offense. 

    It's sad that we think that way.  We have the capacity to line doubles down the line like they just did.  Wind blowing in shouldn't automatically mean there can't be any offense.

    • Like 1
    PeanutPunch33

    PeanutPunch33 209

    Posted

    Would love to see Shaw get a huge hit here. 

    soccer10k

    soccer10k 546

    Posted

    Lead off single. Take advantage, please.

    chibears55

    chibears55 799

    Posted

    1 minute ago, UMFan83 said:

    No one.  They said he's been struggling in the first inning so lets have his first inning be against a more lefty heavy part of the lineup and have one less time against their best hitters.

    I was being sarcastic 🤷‍♂️

    UMFan83

    UMFan83 3,016

    Posted

    Cleveland just took the lead in the bottom of the 8th.  Hope this doesn't start a trend of Game 3's

    JHBulls

    JHBulls 856

    Posted (edited)

    Maybe it wasn’t but that really sounded like catcher interference when the ump went out to Cease to hand him the baseball. It sounded like two sounds were made.

     

    Edited by JHBulls
    PeanutPunch33

    PeanutPunch33 209

    Posted

    1 minute ago, UMFan83 said:

    Cleveland just took the lead in the bottom of the 8th.  Hope this doesn't start a trend of Game 3's

    I'd love to see Cleveland win the series after their remarkable come back to take the division.  Their manager is a baller 

    Jason Ross

    Jason Ross 2,541

    Posted

    Good space now. RISP. 2nd time through the order. 

    chibears55

    chibears55 799

    Posted

    Two shots at getting this run home 

    Let go

    Jason Ross

    Jason Ross 2,541

    Posted

    Awful, awful luck from Busch. Great swing.



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