What a narrative-shifting end to the game that was, eh? Well, not the end-end, which was uglier than it needed to be after Scott Kingery threw a would-be double-play into right field and Jacob Webb couldn’t shut the door long enough to keep Caleb Thielbar out of this game. Let’s just forget that part. And the fact that Caleb Thielbar is our highest leverage reliever at the moment.
No, I mean the last couple of innings in general.
If you weren’t following along tonight, you may check out the box score totals and think the Cubs dominated this game. And in a sense, they did. The first six innings of that matchup featured a TON of Cubs traffic and scoring opportunities … bases loaded chances, guys on third with fewer than two outs, hits, walks, HBPs, etc. But the Cubs just couldn’t get anything done. No matter how many opportunities they had (and there were a LOT), they never really cashed in.
Indeed, it took a Moises Ballesteros bases-loaded walk (which would have been a strikeout if the Phillies challenged) and a Michael Busch bloop single to push any runs across the board at all. That is, until the seventh.
That’s when the Cubs broke out their big bats, with Nico Hoerner (his fourth, a solo shot) and Seiya Suzuki (his first, a MASSIVE two-run blast onto Waveland) each launching game-changing homers.
And good thing they did, because as soon as Shota Imanaga exited the game after the seventh (hold that thought), Riley Martin gave up his first damage of the year: an understandable two-run homer off the bat of Bryce Harper. Shrug. That’s gonna happen. Martin has been great in his short time up with the big league team this year, and Bryce Harper is Bryce Harper.
I give him and you permission to forget about that one … Especially because the Cubs immediately got a run back in the bottom of the eighth and forced an already depleted Phillies bullpen to bring in Brad Keller. But also because Jacob Webb had another rough one (not entirely his fault, but …), as I mentioned in the intro. Alas.
At least it all worked out in the end.
Anyway, despite another solid offensive showing for the Cubs tonight overall, that’s not the story of this game.
No, this one is all about the Ankin Law “Making it Personal” Player of the Game: Shota Imanaga.
And I mean, what else can we even say at this point? He has just been so incredible this season, and was every bit as good as ever tonight: 7.0 IP, 3H, 1ER, 1BB, 1K. With the only run coming on that solo Kyle Schwarber shot, which is also just gonna happen occasionally, whether you’re pitching well or not.
But there’s more of interest there, too, because Imanaga switched up his style quite a bit this evening. I’m going to dig into why and how tomorrow, but take note that after striking out 20(!) batters over his previous two starts, Imanaga struck out just 1 tonight. And I don’t think it was an accident. By which I mean, the dude was a groundball MACHINE: 12 groundballs total, one was a single, one resulted in an error, and the rest were groundouts or forceouts.
Throw in three popouts and an average exit velocity of just 85.9 MPH, and, uh, yeah. He was very, very good again. If he can come anything CLOSE to keeping it up for a full season, it’ll just be such a huge win for a Cubs team that lost Cade Horton for the year (and then some).
Anyway, that’s SEVEN wins in a row for the Chicago Cubs, who are really clicking at the moment, despite all the injuries and the uneven start. This is fun. I like this feeling. I wish it wouldn’t stop.
Full Box Score.
Hence then, the article about enhanced box score cubs 7 phillies 4 april 21 2026 was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Enhanced Box Score: Cubs 7, Phillies 4 – April 21, 2026 )
Also on site :