Imanaga, 2 relievers throw Cubs' 1st home no-hitter in 52 years

Chicago Cubs pitchers Shota Imanaga, Nate Pearson, and Porter Hodge combined to no-hit the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 12-0 Cubs victory at Wrigley Field.

It's the Cubs' first no-hitter at their home ballpark since Milt Pappas' complete-game gem Sept. 2, 1972.

Imanaga struck out seven and walked two on 95 pitches over his seven shutout innings. Pearson worked a flawless eighth in relief of Imanaga, and Hodge followed with a perfect ninth.

Imanaga has not pitched into the eighth inning as a big-leaguer and has only thrown 100 pitches in three of his 26 starts. That made the decision to remove him from the no-no relatively straightforward for manager Craig Counsell.

"Look, it's always hard to do in that situation. You're taking care of Shota. It's 100% about taking care of Shota, and making sure we're doing the right thing for him," Counsell told reporters, per Ryan Herrera of CHGO Sports.

Imanaga revealed he was unaware of the no-hitter before being lifted.

"(Counsell) came to talk to me, and usually he looks happy about telling me good job," Imanaga said through an interpreter, according to Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times. "But he looked a little worried. And so I was figuring out what was going on, and that's when I learned."

The no-hitter is the 18th in Cubs franchise history, dating back to 1876, and the second combined no-no following a four-pitcher effort in 2021. It's also the 21st combined no-hitter in MLB history.

Wrigley Field has now hosted nine no-hitters since it opened in 1914. However, Wednesday's was only the second at the venerable ballpark since Pappas' effort in '72, joining Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2015. Four of the Cubs' no-hitters after Pappas were thrown on the road, while the fifth was pitched at a neutral site (Carlos Zambrano against Houston in Milwaukee in 2008).

For Imanaga, this marks the second time he's been involved in a no-hitter as a professional. He threw a complete-game no-no in 2022 while pitching for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in Japan.

The 31-year-old now owns a 2.99 ERA with 155 strikeouts and 25 walks over 26 starts in his first MLB season.

The Pirates, meanwhile, were no-hit for the 14th time in their history. This was the first time they were victims of a combined effort.

The three Cubs pitchers got plenty of run support to aid their historic feat. Chicago pounded out 17 hits against five Pirates hurlers, including homers from Dansby Swanson, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Cody Bellinger.