Tatsuya Imai 2026 — Today's Stats & Game Log

Imai's command wavers again as platoon split against lefties stays stark

Imai turned in another shaky outing on the road against Washington, working just 3.2 innings while allowing 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 strikeouts, and 3 walks. The line only nudged his ERA a touch, and the early exit fits squarely into the boom-or-bust pattern that has defined his 2026 season so far.

Looking back over his last ten starts, the volatility is glaring. A dominant 6-inning, 2-hit, 0-run, 10-strikeout outing against Detroit on June 26 and a pristine no-hit shutout line against Texas on May 26 sit right alongside disasters like the 0.2-inning, 5-run implosion versus Kansas City on June 13 and a 4-inning, 6-run outing versus Seattle on May 13. The platoon split tells a similarly clear story this season. Against right-handed batters, Imai has been outstanding — a .169 average against, a .582 OPS against, 27 strikeouts, and just 2 home runs allowed across 71 at-bats. Against lefties, however, the numbers flip dramatically: a .268 average, an .849 OPS, and 7 home runs allowed in 123 at-bats. No pitch-by-pitch data is available for today's start, but issuing 3 walks in fewer than 4 innings points to command issues around the strike zone rather than a lack of stuff — his season strikeout total of 63 shows the swing-and-miss ability is still very much there.

With a 6.06 ERA and 1.50 WHIP on the season, there's clearly room to tighten things up, but the underlying strikeout rate and his dominance over right-handed hitters suggest the raw talent hasn't gone anywhere. Cleaning up the walk rate and finding a steadier answer against left-handed hitters should be the next steps toward stabilizing his production. Unico's take: sharpening his sequencing against lefties is the single biggest lever for bringing that ERA down going forward.