By ChiCitySports,Paul Magno

Copyright yardbarker

For what it’s worth, Cubs manager Craig Counsell doesn’t see all that much wrong with Imanaga, despite the box score results.

“I thought two of the pitches were pretty good pitches,” Counsell told media after Friday’s game. “There wasn’t a lot of other hits, right? He pitched really well other than that. So, those two homers, they were a little confusing to me. I thought they were pretty good pitches that, normally, he gets fly balls on those pitches.”

“That’s what’s still encouraging is there’s not hard contact kind of the rest of the way,” Counsell added. “His split-finger was really good tonight. His slider was really good tonight…There was some really good stuff in there, too.”

The problem is that Imanaga’s numbers have been trending down for a little while now. Over his last 4 starts, his ERA has been 4.91 and he’s given up 8 home runs in 22 innings in that stretch. When added to Matthew Boyd’s recent downturn (5.34 ERA over his last 10 starts), Imanaga’s issues take on an exaggerated level of importance heading into postseason play.

There’s still some time to figure things out for the Cubs’ “throwing philosopher,” but there’s not a whole lot of it.