Shota Imana (pitcher), who plays for the Chicago Cubs, has made a new major league history.

In the home game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, on the 19th (Korea time), Imanaga showed a perfect pitch with seven scoreless innings (4 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts). Imanaga came off the mound in the eighth inning when the score was 0-0 and although he could not add a multiplier, he lowered his ERA from 0.96 to 0.84.

According to MLBcom, the official website of the Major League Baseball, the 0.84 ERA of starting pitchers (excluding openers) in nine games since their big league debut is the highest since 1913. In the past, Fernando Valenzuela made his debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981 and won the National League Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young Award at the same time with a 0.91 ERA in nine games.

Imanaga, who gave a walk to leadoff hitter McCutchen in the first inning, guided Reynolds to an infield grounder, and struck out Joe and Olivares in a row. The second inning ended with six pitches, including Gonzalez (middle fielder fly), Théralo (swinging strikeout), and Bart (striking grounder).

After hitting Taylor, Williams, and McCutchen all wrong in the third inning, Imanaga guided Reynolds and Joe to a groundout in the fourth inning, and gave up an infield hit to Olivares. Gonzalez finished the inning with a fly ball to right field. Bart and Taylor, who struck out Triolo in the fifth inning, swung and missed to third base and a fly to right field, respectively.

After two outs in the sixth, he gave up an infield single to Reynolds, but grounded out to first to continue his streak of zero runs. After two outs in the seventh, Imanaga gave up back-to-back hits to Triolo and Bart, placing them at first and second base. But he struck out Taylor with three pitches. The Cubs won 1-0 on Morel's walk-off single in the ninth.

Meanwhile, Imanaga, who made his big league debut this season, has taken the mound nine times, recording five wins and an unbeaten ERA of 0.84. He was a key pitcher for the Japanese national team at the 2017 Asian Baseball Championship, the WBSC Premier 12 in 2019, and the 5th World Baseball Classic last year.