ARLINGTON, Tex. — Chicago Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga knows his audience well.
Imanaga famously sang a line from “Go, Cubs, Go” last winter during his introductory news conference at Wrigley Field, and on Tuesday turned to another Chicago classic upon entering in the fourth inning of the American League’s 5-3 win in the All-Star Game.
The Globe Life Field sound system cranked out the old Gatorade jingle, “Be Like Mike,” when Imanaga strolled out to the mound. The song was created in the early 1990s for Chicago Bulls great, Michael Jordan.
“I talked to people around me that support me and we decided on that song,” Imanaga said afterward through his interpreter. “Obviously I want to be like Mike. However, he is so great I have to put in a lot of work to get there. Hopefully once I do, the people of Chicago, all the fans, they can accept me.”
The song also has a double meaning. Some of Imanaga’s teammates call him “Mike” since he began telling baristas at his local coffee shop that Mike was his name. He explained that he was tired of them asking how to spell Shota, and picked the most American name he could think of. The Cubs put a nameplate on his locker at Wrigley Field that reads “Mike Imanaga II.”
White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet, the other Chicago All-Star, also pitched in the fourth inning and threw a scoreless frame, allowing a one-out hit to Philadelphia third baseman Alec Bohm. The major league strikeout leader had one K, throwing a 98 mph fastball past Home Run Derby champion Teoscar Hernández of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I was hoping to get one,” he said. “But zero-zero (runs and hits) was all I was really aiming for.”
Crochet, who has been a reliever since his major-league debut in 2020 before moving into the Sox rotation this year, was well prepared to pitch out of the ’pen.
“It wasn’t too foreign, but it definitely was a changeup thrown my way,” he said. “That’s to be expected in this game. You never know what’s going to happen, so just playing the game the right way.”
The AL came back from Shohei Ohtani’s three-run home run in the third, tying it in the bottom of the inning and going ahead on a two-run home run by Boston’s Jarren Duran in the fifth inning. The AL finished with only five hits, and none after Duran’s home run. Duran was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.
The game was played in a crisp 2 hours and 28 minutes, the shortest length of any All-Star Game since 1988.
Imanaga said he felt like he was “floating” during the game, and that it seemed like a “dream.” He retired all three batters he faced on a groundout (Vladimir Guerrero Jr.), a called strikeout (Adley Rutschman) and a lineout to left field (Marcus Semien).
Imanaga said he didn’t get a chance to talk to fellow Japanese star Ohtani, whose three-run home run in the third inning briefly gave the National League the lead.
“But watching the home run, seeing him among all these players, he’s another level up,” Imanaga said. “He’s a star and so I was a little jealous.”
Imanaga had a wry grin, talking in front of a few dozen Japanese reporters who were at the All-Star Game for Ohtani. Only two Japanese reporters cover Imanaga on a daily basis in Chicago, though that could change in 2025 if he continues to make a name for himself as one of the league’s top lefties.
Successful outing for Shota Imanaga!
⁰⁰1.0 IP | 0 H | 1 K pic.twitter.com/PFdXnb2UfD
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 17, 2024
The experience for both Imanaga and Crochet was one that will last a lifetime, though both are young enough and talented enough to do it all over again.
“It was cool,” Crochet said. “I felt like I wasn’t really ready to absorb the moment until I got in the dugout after the inning. Feeling a lot of adrenaline before knowing I was getting into the game, but words can’t describe it once you come off the field and do your job.”
Crochet was headed back to Chicago, where he’ll have 24 hours of rest before getting on a plane to Kansas City for the start of the second half.
“Sadly, no rest,” he said with a shrug. “A blessing and a curse of making it here.”
In a season where almost nothing has gone right for the White Sox, Crochet represented the team and the South Side admirably in Arlington. He answered questions about possibly being traded over a dozen times and never got flustered. He repeatedly said he hoped to stick around and watch the rebuild turn the corner.
“We’ve had a lot of tough losses,” he said Monday. “We’re not (on pace to break) the losing record by getting blown out every game. There are a lot of games we’ve been in and the ball hasn’t gone our way. It’s tough that it hasn’t happened so far, but I think once we turn this page to the second half, we’re all going to keep doing our best to put together a good game of baseball.”
Crochet K: All-Star Edition
pic.twitter.com/VivtaNCbrt
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) July 17, 2024
If Sox management Sox didn’t know it before, they now know how much being a White Sox player means to him.
“When you’re part of an organization, everywhere you go you’re representing them,” he said after the game. “Fun to do my part, and to do it the right way.”
