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The funny anecdotes behind Shota Imanaga, Cubs players realizing they were part of no-hitter

5 months agoTony Andracki

Shota Imanaga knew something was up.

After he came back to the third base dugout at Wrigley Field following the 7th inning, he wasn’t surprised to see Cubs manager Craig Counsell walking up to him.

Imanaga was at 95 pitches and he has only topped 100 pitches in a game 3 times this season as the team manages his workload. So the rookie southpaw knew his day was done.

But what Imanaga was confused by was the look on Counsell’s face. After all, Imanaga had just tossed 7 shutout innings.

“Usually he looks happy about [the outing], telling me good job,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “But he looked a little worried and so I was figuring out what’s going on and that’s when I learned.”

That was the moment Imanaga realized he had not allowed a hit yet and the Cubs were on the cusp of history.

All 95 pitches Imanaga had thrown on the evening, he was unaware that he was working on a no-hitter.

Complete coverage of the no-hitter
WATCH: The final out as Cubs put finishing touches on no-no
Every out from the 2nd combined no-hitter in franchise history
Shota Imanaga wasn’t aware of the no-hitter during outing
Craig Counsell explains thought process behind taking Imanaga out of game
Amaya, Hodge react after final out
Analyzing the epic pitching performance from Imanaga, Pearson and Hodge
The final out from every Cubs no-hitter since 2008
Alex Cohen and Jim Deshaies recap no-hitter
Pat Hughes’ call of the final out
Miguel Esparza’s call of the final out in Spanish

Imanaga’s catcher, Miguel Amaya, found out about the bid for history around the same time.

“I had no idea, either,” Amaya said. “I figured it out when Nate [Pearson] was coming in and fans started booing.”

Amaya is referring to the top of the 8th inning when Counsell opted to take Imanaga out of the game and instead turned to his bullpen to close out the no-hitter.

Just like Craig Kimbrel back in June of 2021, Pearson entered the game unaware the Cubs had something brewing.

“I honestly didn’t know we had a no-hitter going and I ran out there, started getting booed and I realized we probably got something on the line here,” Pearson said. “So I just kinda locked it in and did my part.”

Pearson tossed a scoreless 8th inning and gave way to rookie Porter Hodge for the 9th.

Hodge was the only pitcher who knew what was happening when he came into the game.

“We were down in the bullpen and [Pearson] was looking at the TV and then I looked at the TV and I smiled at him because I thought he knew but I didn’t want to say anything,” Hodge said. “I started laughing because he obviously didn’t know until then. I was just laughing down there.”

Dansby Swanson was aware of the Cubs’ bid for history and that’s exactly why he refused to come out of the game.

Nico Hoerner was one of the players Counsell swapped out in the latter innings to get the starters off their feet during a 12-0 blowout win.

Hoerner played the first 7 innings defensively and then had to sit on the bench for the final 6 outs.

“Yeah, it was a little strange,” Hoerner said. “Both those guys came in and shut the door. Very cool to have that tension a little bit. And the fans all stuck around, obviously and were invovled and hung out after the game for a while.

“The way people were celebrating and stuff was really cool.”

It was the first Cubs no-hitter at Wrigley Field since 1972, so the 30,369 fans in attendance Wednesday night made sure to bask in the moment.

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