Chicago Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga lowered his major league-leading ERA to 0.84 by throwing seven shutout innings in a 1-0 walk-off win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday.
The 30-year-old MLB rookie allowed just four hits, all singles, while striking out seven and walking one at Wrigley Field, where Christopher Morel drove home the winning run with a one-out single in the ninth inning.
The Pirates were held without a hit by Imanaga until the fourth, when Edward Olivares snapped that streak with an infield single.
Imanaga's only trouble in his ninth start came in the seventh.
The former ace of the DeNA BayStars in Japan gave up back-to-back two-out singles but ended the threat by striking out Michael A. Taylor on three pitches.
"I'm not really too interested in my own stats or any historic value," said Imanaga, who is 5-0 on the season. "I perform better when I don't think about those things."
Imanaga's Japanese teammate Seiya Suzuki went hitless in four at-bats.
At Dodger Stadium, Shohei Ohtani went 0-for-4 while batting leadoff for the first time this season in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 4-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
Walker Buehler picked up his first win after throwing six dominant innings with seven strikeouts.
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