The 150th home opener for the Chicago Cubs was a lot like No. 149.
Shota Imanaga was brilliant Friday in pitching 7 1/3 innings in a 3-1 win over the San Diego Padres at Wrigley Field, a carbon copy of his six shutout innings in last year’s 5-0 whitewash of the Colorado Rockies.
A full house of 40,244 was on hand, saluting Hall of Famers Billy Williams, Ryne Sandberg, Fergie Jenkins, Andre Dawson and Lee Smith, fighting off the chill by consuming cold beverages and serenading the Cubs with “Go, Cubs, Go” after the win.
The Cubs managed only three hits, but stellar defensive play by Pete Crow-Armstrong and Matt Shaw and aggressive baserunning by Seiya Suzuki helped make up for the lack of offense, dealing the Padres their first loss in eight games.
New closer Ryan Pressly had a shaky ninth but recorded his third save, sealing the Cubs’ fourth straight win and leaving them 6-4 after their 0-2 start in Tokyo.
After the mid-March trip to Japan, a return to spring training in Mesa, Ariz., and a seven-game trip that began in Phoenix and ended in the A’s minor-league stadium in West Sacramento, Calif., the Cubs were just happy to be home.
“We’ve been through more than maybe the normal season to get to this point, and that’s OK,” manager Craig Counsell said, sounding like Stuart Smalley, the fictional self-help guru from “Saturday Night Live.”
Here are 3 takeaways from Wrigley.
1. Shota Imanaga loves to chill.
The left-hander continued his early-season dominance, allowing one run on four hits over 7 1/3 innings, improving to 2-0 with a 0.98 ERA in three starts.
His only blemish was a third-inning home run into the left-field basket by light-hitting catcher Martin Maldonado. Imanaga was aided by Crow-Armstrong’s running catch near the wall to rob Xander Bogaerts in the second. Dansby Swanson threw out a runner at the plate in the fifth with the game tied 1-1.
Imanaga said the crowd helped keep him focused, joking that he wanted to use a recording of Cubs fans on opening day as his wake-up noise on his alarm clock.
“That way I can get up right away,” Imanaga said through his interpreter. “But that would be a big mistake because if I did that I’d show up to the field late because I’d want to continue listening to the roar of the crowd.”
It won’t be long before an Imanaga alarm-clock giveaway is scheduled at Wrigley.
2. ‘All the credit goes to Seiya.’
The Cubs took the lead in the fifth on Justin Turner’s two-out, pinch-hit, infield single with the bases loaded. It was an ordinary grounder to Bogaerts at short that normally would have resulted in an inning-ending force at second. But Suzuki had a nice lead and beat the throw to second as the go-ahead run scored.
“Obviously I’ll take (the hit), but all the credit goes to Seiya,” Turner said. “Good primary (lead), good secondary, good break off the bat and beating it out. It’s something this team, especially early on in the season, has taken a lot of pride in. I don’t know how many outs we’ve gained on the bases so far, but it’s been impressive and puts a lot of pressure on the defense, too.”
The Cubs added a run in the inning when third baseman ...
