Cubs 2, Diamondbacks 0: The Shōta Imanaga and Ian Happ show

The Cubs, though, could not get any offense going after Happ’s home run. They loaded the bases in the third on a walk, double by Busch and a two-out intentional walk to Happ (now how often do you see that in the modern game in the third inning?). But Seiya Suzuki flied to left to end the inning.

Happ’s one-out double in the sixth gave the Cubs a runner in scoring position, but Suzuki flied to right and after a walk drawn by Pete Crow-Armstrong (he’s getting good at that!), Swanson grounded out to end the inning.

Imanaga got into a bit of trouble in the seventh, allowing a one-out double and two-out walk. But then he got James McCann to ground to third to end the inning.

Overall, Imanaga threw 87 pitches (56 strikes). Here are his five K’s [VIDEO].

Here’s more on Imanaga’s outing [VIDEO].

Imanaga now has a 2.40 ERA in 41.1 innings, with 10 walks and 43 strikeouts. He again did not allow a home run in this game, so he’s still given up just three long balls this year, no more than one in any game. This is exactly the guy the Cubs hoped he’d be, and hopefully Jed Hoyer is working on some sort of contract extension for Imanaga. Yes, it will cost more than the $57 million for three years the Cubs turned down. Yes, it’s worth it.

Ben Brown, who has been so good in a multi-inning relief role this year, threw a 1-2-3 eighth.

Then Happ and the Cubs padded the lead with an insurance run in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Happ tripled into the gap in right-center [VIDEO].

That was his first triple of the year — and he didn’t hit any last year, either. He now has 17 triples in his career, and that was his first since Sept. 2, 2024 against the Pirates at Wrigley. More on Happ’s day from BCB’s JohnW53:

Ian Happ extended his on-base streak to 23 games with his second-inning homer. He began the day tied with Ronald Acuna of the Braves, Yordan Alvarez of the Astros and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers for the third-longest such streak in MLB this season. Acuna’s streak was active. So were the two longer than Happ’s: 26 games, by Nick Kurtz of the Athletics, and 24, by Ildemaro Vargas of the Diamondbacks. Vargas’ streak ended in today’s game.

Suzuki drove Happ in with this sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 [VIDEO].

Brown was left in the game to throw the ninth. And Swanson made a nifty play to help out Brown for the first out [VIDEO].

All three outs in the ninth went to Dansby, who had nine assists on the afternoon. Here’s the final out [VIDEO].

What a fantastic team effort — great pitching (from both Imanaga and Brown), outstanding defense and timely hitting. And so, at least for today:

An additional note on the game, and Happ’s afternoon, from John:

With Happ’s eighth-inning triple, the Cubs completed a team cycle — with only five total hits.

Happ missed a cycle by a single. He is the 31st Cub to do that since 1901. Michael Busch was the last, on Sept. 27 of last year. Seiya Suzuki had done it on April 29, 2025, and Garrett Cooper, on April 2, 2024. Those had been the first such games by a Cub since Happ, on May 19, 2018.

There have been seven since 2000. Aramis Ramirez, in 2006, and Moises Alou, in 2004, were the earlier two.
Happ joins Manny Trillo as the only Cub to do it twice.

For comparison, a Cub has had 10 complete cycles, while 702 missed one for lack of a triple. They included Nico Hoerner and Matt Shaw this year and 11 last year. Among the nine were Suzuki and Kyle Tucker, three each, and Busch and Happ, twice.

Last note: This was the first time in 2026 that the Diamondbacks lost to a left-handed starter.

Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments [VIDEO].

The Cubs won the series and now have not only a 10-game home winning streak, but have won four in a row overall, and are 14-3 since beginning that 10-game overall win streak on April 14. Good times. And at this writing the Pirates are demolishing the Reds 15-3 in the fifth (!) inning. Presuming that score holds up, the Cubs will be in first place by themselves after today’s action.

The Cubs will go for the series sweep Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Matthew Boyd will start for the Cubs and Merrill Kelly goes for the D-backs. Game time is again 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.