As the Cubs fight for their playoff lives with just over a week left before the MLB trade deadline, they wanted to come out of the All-Star Break hot.

It didn’t play out that way, as they dropped the first 2 games of the series to the Diamondbacks Friday and Saturday.

That meant the pressure was on Sunday as Shota Imanaga had to run out to the mound and play stopper for his team.

Every win is crucial right now and the Cubs could not afford to be swept in their home ballpark by the Diamondbacks – one of the teams they’re chasing in the NL Wild-Card race.

Just as he has done all season, the Cubs’ All-Star starter delivered for his team.

Imanaga struck out a career-high 10 batters in 7 innings, permitting only a lone run on a homer. That allowed his offense time to come back in the game, which they did in a walk-off 2-1 victory in 10 innings.

He took a no-hitter into the 6th inning, though he acknowledged he didn’t know it was happening.

When Arizona’s Randal Grichuk sent a soft liner back through the box and into center field, the Wrigley Field crowd of 39,162 let out a collective cheer to celebrate Imanaga’s 5.2 no-hit innings.

“After I was done with the start, I was talking to the pitch coaches as well as my interpreter,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “And that’s when I found out why they were all cheering.

“When I was on the mound, I was like, ‘why are they cheering?'”

[WATCH: Shota Imanaga’s postgame press conference]

As for the importance of the game, Imanaga was well aware of the situation his team faced entering Sunday’s game.

He felt the magnitude and understood there might be pressure even before the start and spoke with Stanberry about a perfect learning moment from camp in Arizona.

“During Spring Training, I talked with Dansby [Swanson], Craig Counsell, [Justin] Steele about how to deal with pressure,” Imanaga said. “I didn’t really feel pressure out there and talking to my teammates, talking to my coaches about it, I think that helped.”

So what advice did Swanson provide during Spring Training to the 30-year-old rookie about to undergo his first season in America?

“My biggest thing was just like, he believes in himself,” Swanson said. “Pressure is a privilege and just go out there and do you. He’s obviously done that about as well as you possibly can.”

Imanaga is 8-2 this season with a 2.86 ERA and 1.07 WHIP. He was an easy choice to go to Texas as the team’s lone All-Star representative last week and the Cubs are 14-4 in games he starts.

The Cubs have seen Imanaga go out and perform on a consistent basis and even after his struggles, they have been impressed with his ability to bounce back and fight through adversity.

His character has stood out to this team – more than even his steady performance on the field.

“I think that’s just kind of in his blood right?” Swanson said. “He’s got this competitive fire in him, this care level – not only to be really, really good at what he does, but he wants to win. He wants to be a part of something bigger than himself. And I think he’s shown that so far this season.”

[WATCH: Dansby Swanson’s postgame press conference]

As the Cubs wait to see what Jed Hoyer, Carter Hawkins and the rest of the front office will do at the trade deadline, they know every win is huge.

“All of them right now seem important,” Swanson said. “I think it was huge for us to be able to battle back after a couple days of probably not playing our best and to be able to come out with one and moving into another big series is key for everyone.”