Tatsuya Imai on Wed, Jul 22, 2026

Quality start masks a shaky ERA — the lefty split is the real story

On July 22 against the Marlins, Imai turned in a quality start — 6 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 8 strikeouts and 3 walks. Against a season ERA of 5.59 and a 1.47 WHIP, tonight's line reads like a clear step forward, arriving right on the heels of a wildly inconsistent stretch.

The platoon split tells much of the story here. Against right-handed hitters, Imai has been dominant this season — a .169 average and a .582 OPS against — while lefties have hit .268 with an .849 OPS against, accounting for the bulk of his seven home runs allowed. How Miami's lineup skewed tonight matters for how repeatable this outing is, but that platoon gap remains his clearest vulnerability. The 8 strikeouts against 3 walks give him a solid 2.67 K/BB ratio, though three free passes still hint at some inconsistency working ahead in counts early in at-bats. Looking back over his last ten outings, the swings have been extreme: 6 shutout innings with 10 strikeouts on June 26 against Detroit, 11 strikeouts against Cleveland on June 20, but also a 1.1-inning, 5-run implosion against Minnesota on July 2 and a 0.2-inning, 5-run disaster against Kansas City on June 13. Tonight's start sits firmly on the strong end of that rollercoaster.

Unico's take: how he handles left-handed bats going forward will determine how quickly that ERA actually comes down.