Cubs 11, Phillies 2: Shōta Imanaga dominates and Nico Hoerner drives in five

More on Shaw’s three-double game from BCB’s JohnW53:

Before Matt Shaw did it, the last Cub with three doubles in a game was Javier Báez, in a 6-5 loss to the Angels at home on April 13, 2019.

The previous one was Welington Castillo, in a 6-5 win at home over the Cardinals on May 2, 2014.

The last on the road was Aramis Ramirez, in a 6-5 loss at Milwaukee on April 10, 2011.

And the last in a win on the road was Ramirez, in a 7-1 win at Milwaukee on July 29, 2008.

The last Cub with four in a game was Matt Murton, in a 7-3 win at home over the Diamondbacks on Aug. 3, 2006. He is one of only two Cubs with four. Billy Williams was the first, on April 9, 1969, at home vs. the Phillies.

That made it 7-1 and put runners on second and third. PCA and Shaw both scored on Hoerner’s single, Nico’s third hit of the game [VIDEO].

While this offensive explosion was happening, as noted, Imanaga was completely baffling Phillies hitters. His 11 strikeouts are a Cubs season high and matched his personal best in MLB, and only six pitchers so far this year have had at least 11 in a game. Imanaga struck out Kyle Schwarber three times. He threw 97 pitches (67 strikes). Here’s more on Imanaga’s night [VIDEO].

Imanaga is looking much more like the 2024 version of himself than the 2025 guy, and that’s really good news. If he keeps throwing like this the Cubs should extend him. He’s thrown 22 innings this year and allowed only two home runs, with 31 strikeouts and five walks.

Ben Brown threw the next two innings, retiring all six batters he faced on just 17 pitches. Brown appears to be taking to this long-relief role, which is also good news for a bullpen that’s had a lot of injuries. Brown had some help from his defense — check out this slick play by Bregman [VIDEO].

PCA added a highlight-reel catch in the eighth [VIDEO].

The Cubs, meanwhile, added a run in the seventh on a solo homer by Swanson, his fourth of the year [VIDEO].

Swanson completed the Cubs scoring with an RBI groundout in the ninth [VIDEO], scoring Seiya Suzuki, who had walked, advanced to second when Ian Happ was hit by a pitch, and took third on a groundout.

Luke Little threw the ninth and gave up a solo homer to Bryce Harper, but otherwise finished without incident. The best news for Little: He threw 12 strikes in 17 pitches and didn’t walk anyone, something he’s had trouble with in the past. Here’s the final out [VIDEO].

Here are postgame remarks from Craig Counsell [VIDEO].

A couple more notes on this big win from John. First, on Nico Hoerner’s five-RBI game:

This is just the 17th game since 1901 in which a player leading off the Cubs’ batting order drove in at least five runs.

The record is six, set by Clarence “Footsie” Blair in 1930, and tied by Augie Galan in 1935, Rick Monday in 1973 and 176, and Pete Crow-Armstrong, on May 16 of last year at home against the White Sox.

The most recent with five was Nelson Velazquez, in a 15-2 win at Philadelphia on July 22, 2022. He and Blair were the only two to do it at Philadelphia before Hoerner

And, on the offensive output in general:

The Cubs made double-digit hits for the fourth consecutive game. They did not do that all of last season. Their last streak of more than three was five in a row, Sept. 13-17, 2024. They had a four-game streak earlier that year too; one of four in 2023; one each of four and five in 2022; and two of four in 2021.

Their record is 12 games, in 1922. They had 11-game streaks in 1930 and 1935, and nine games in 1937. Their longest since 2000 is seven games, in 2005, 2010 and 2018.

And one more from me: Before this series, the last time any Cubs team scored 10+ runs in consecutive games in Philadelphia? May 20-21, 1938! They won 16-7 on 5/20/38 and 10-1 on 5/21/38.

I think, then, we can declare for this game:

So the Cubs are once again at .500 at 9-9, and the entire league has shown a lot of parity so far this year. Ten teams are within one game of .500 and 23 teams have records between 11-7 and 7-11.

And if you haven’t seen enough of the Phillies, they will visit Wrigley Field for four games next week.

The Cubs will certainly enjoy their off day today, and Friday they will open a three-game series against the New York Mets at Wrigley Field. Edward Cabrera will start for the Cubs and Kodai Senga goes for the Mets. Game time Friday is 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.