Twins fall to Cubs 7-3, ending five-game winning streak

CHICAGO – The Twins have one of the most productive offenses against lefthanded pitchers this season, entering Tuesday with an American League-best .268 batting average vs. them, but none of their hitters had faced Shota Imanaga.

They had no answers outside of a two-run homer from Royce Lewis in the fourth inning. Imanaga, the Chicago Cubs’ star free-agent signing from Japan, permitted two hits and two runs across seven innings while matching a season high with 10 strikeouts. The Twins’ five-game winning streak ended with a 7-3 loss at Wrigley Field.

Imanaga, who outdueled Pablo López, befuddled Twins hitters with the movement on his fastball, and his splitter was almost unhittable with 12 swings and misses on 20 swings, plus another four foul balls.

“You could give me a high school arm, if I’ve never seen you, it’s going to be a little challenging that first time,” said Lewis, noting Imanaga generated up to 22 inches of carry on his fastball, which makes the pitch look like it’s rising from a hitter’s perspective.

The Twins didn’t have a baserunner until Carlos Santana drew a one-out walk in the fourth inning, already trailing by four runs. Lewis hammered the next pitch, a first-pitch fastball, through 20-mph wind for a two-run homer to left field. Lewis has 14 homers and 31 RBI in 35 games this year.

“I’m not trying to hit homers,” Lewis said. “I love them. I would love to try. But whenever I do try, I strike out.”

Imanaga, signed to a four-year, $53 million contract last winter, retired 11 of his final 12 batters. He lowered his ERA to 3.06 through 21 starts.

“He’s one of those rare guys, he can throw a fastball right down the middle and it’s very challenging to hit it,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.

There were no easy innings for López, who struck out only two batters to match his lowest total in a start this season. He yielded seven hits and four runs, and the Cubs had a runner in scoring position in all five of his innings.

“I felt a little out of whack, probably the most I felt in this stretch I’ve had for a while now,” said López, who is sporting a 10-8 record and a 4.74 ERA. “I was fighting myself on the mound too much, which led to a lot of pitches up in the zone.”

López had a disastrous three-batter stretch with two outs in the first inning. After a two-out single from Seiya Suzuki, Cody Bellinger pulled a ground ball to the right side of the infield. Second baseman Brooks Lee ranged to his left for a sliding stop, but he never regained his footing and threw the ball away as he tumbled onto his back.

After starting Isaac Paredes with an 0-2 count, López left a fastball over the heart of the plate and watched it sail through the wind into the basket above the ivy in left field for a three-run homer.

“I threw a couple of pitches that were just floating up in the zone,” López said. “I actually got lucky some of them were hit for outs.”

López issued a leadoff walk to Inver Grove Heights native Michael Busch in the third inning. With two outs and a two-strike count, Busch took off for second base and Paredes hit a jam-shot bloop single into shallow right field. Busch scored from first on a ball that landed about 10 feet beyond the infield dirt.

Twins reliever Randy Dobnak allowed three runs over the final three innings.

With two outs in the sixth inning, Dansby Swanson drove in a run with a triple as center fielder Austin Martin didn’t take a clean route to the ball and came up empty on a diving attempt.

Two pitches later, Swanson scored on a wild pitch.

“We didn’t play good enough fundamentally to really say anything else except we should’ve done more, we should’ve done better,” Baldelli said.