Did Paul Skenes Help Cubs No-Hit Pirates?
Paul Skenes was nothing short of historic in his rookie season for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he may have been the cause of his team being on the wrong side of history.
At the MLB Awards in Las Vegas, Skenes spoke about one thing he regrets from his first year in the big leagues and talked about how he showed Chicago Cubs left-handed pitcher Shota Imanaga how he grips his fastball on Aug. 27 at PNC Park.
In Imanaga's next outing against Pittsburgh on Sept. 4 at Wrigley Field, he pitched seven innings without allowing a hit in the Pirates' 12-0 no-hit loss to the Cubs.
"I regret this one a little bit because Shota came up to me when we were in Pittsburgh and he asked me how I held my fastball," Skenes said. "So I was like yeah, here you go dude. Whatever, check it out. And then he no-hit us in his next outing. I don't know if he was throwing my fastball or not."
This is wild ...
— MLB (@MLB) November 15, 2024
Shota Imanaga asked Paul Skenes to show him his fastball grip.
Imanaga no-hit the Pirates his next outing against them 😮 pic.twitter.com/pRhnWjIdZH
Imanaga was dominant, striking out seven batters and walking just two against Pittsburgh. Four of Imanaga's seven strikeouts came on fastballs, according to Statcast. The Cubs' rookie left-hander only threw 95 pitches in one of the best outings of his his rookie season. Of those 95 pitches, 42 were fastballs.
"Maybe looking back, the reason I had a good game was maybe that talk we had," Imanaga said via translator.
Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge pitched an inning apiece to close out the Cubs' first no-hitter at Wrigley Field since 1972 and the 18th in franchise history.
Imanaga, 31, had an impressive rookie season, going 15-3 with a 2.91 ERA across 29 starts while striking out 174 batters over 173 1/3 innings. The Japanese left-hander made two starts against Pittsburgh and was dominant in his other outing as well, pitching seven shutout innings, allowing just four hits and striking out seven batters.
