Imanaga strikes out 11 and Swanson homers with 4 RBIs to lead Cubs over A's 9-2

CHICAGO (AP) — Shota Imanaga struck out a career-high 11 in winning his fifth straight start, Dansby Swanson hit a three-run homer while tying his season high with four RBIs and Chicago Cubs defeated the Oakland Athletics 9-2 on Monday night.

Chicago (77-73) remained five games behind the New York Mets (82-68) for the final NL wild card with 12 games remaining.

Imanaga (14-3) allowed five hits over six innings, including Brent Rooker’s 38th homer, a two run-drive in the third. The 31-year-old left-hander walked three and reached 14 wins for the first time as a professional in his first year in the majors after eight previous seasons in Japan.

“He's a rookie and he's really talented and good,” Chicago manager Craig Counsell said. “I hope there's other things he's got left to accomplish."

Imanaga reached 166 1/3 innings for the season on Monday, topping his goal of throwing at least 162 in 2024.

“I''m being honest, I'm not too concerned about the amount of wins I have,” Imanaga said through a translator. “I think it's more important to help the team win.”

Imanaga got 11 of his 22 misses on split-finger fastballs.

“That pitch was super-effective,” Counsell said. “We though they were going to be aggressive to the fastball, so the split turned out to be a really good pitch tonight.”

Rooker went deep for the second straight game and added a single as Oakland lost its third straight. The previous two were at the White Sox, who had not won back-to-back games in nearly three months.

Isaac Paredes and Miguel Amaya each had three hits and drove in two runs in an 18-hit attack. Paredes is 14 for his last 29 (.483) with seven RBIs in his last eight games.

Seiya Suzuki had three hits, among seven Cubs starters with multi-hit games.

Trey Wingenter followed Imanaga with two scoreless innings and Jack Neely worked around a pair of singles in the ninth.

Joey Estes (7-8) gave up six runs and nine hits. He was chased after the first six Cubs batters in second hit safely.

“Not good,” Estes said. “I gave up a three-run homer, I guess that was my damage, but everything else was cheap hits, just found that gap. I just couldn't get an out that inning.

“I personally felt I was unlucky. I would get two strikes. I would throw a good pitch and they would hit it off the end of the bat for a blooper or soft-hit ball through the hole.”

Paredes hit two-out RBI single in the first and Chicago blew open the game with a five-run second. Amaya and Ian Happ had RBI singles and Swanson followed with his 15th homer, a drive into the basket in left.

“We put together a lot of hits right out of the gate,” Swanson said. "We kind of kept the momentum going on offense.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Athletics: OF Lawrence Butler was held out of the starting lineup but was available off the bench. … RHP Ross Stripling (low back strain) will throw a bullpen session on Wednesday, but manager Mark Kotsay said he’s “not necessarily nearing a return.” … RHP Austin Adams (right forearm tendinitis) is awaiting further evaluation. … RHP Osvaldo Bido (right wrist flexor tendonitis) is with the A’s but hasn’t started playing catch.

Cubs: LHP Justin Steele (left elbow tendinitis) is progressing after a bullpen session on Saturday and threw a “light touch and feel” off a mound on Monday, manager Craig Counsell said. Counsell added Steele could pitch again this season.

UP NEXT

Oakland RHP Mitch Spence (7-9, 4.33) faced Chicago LHP Jordan Wicks (2-3, 5.27) on Tuesday night.

Oakland Athletics' Brent Rooker is greeted in the dugout after his two-run home run off Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Shota Imanaga during the third inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Oakland Athletics' Jacob Wilson, left, greets Brent Rooker at home after they both scored on Rooker's two-run home run off Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Shota Imanaga during the third inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago Cubs' Dansby Swanson hits a three-run home run off Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Joey Estes during the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago Cubs' Dansby Swanson hits an RBI single off Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Hogan Harris during the third inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago Cubs' Nico Hoerner, left, and Dansby Swanson celebrate the team's 9-2 win over the Oakland Athletics after a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago Cubs' Isaac Paredes, left, and Dansby Swanson celebrate the team's 9-2 win over the Oakland Athletics after a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Shota Imanaga delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Shota Imanaga delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday criticized Republican Donald Trump's promise to deport millions of people who are in the United States illegally, questioning whether he would rely on massive raids and detention camps to carry it out.

Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s annual leadership conference that the nation can find both a pathway to citizenship for those who want to come and at the same time secure the border.

“We can do both, and we must do both,” she said.

Trump, for his part, was heading to Uniondale on New York's Long Island as both candidates took a break Wednesday from campaigning in the toss-up states that will likely decide the Nov. 5 election.

Harris harked back to the Trump administration's immigration policies as she bid for Hispanic support.

“While we fight to move our nation forward to a brighter future, Donald Trump and his extremist allies will keep trying to pull us backward,” Harris said. “We all remember what they did to tear families apart, and now they have pledged to carry out the largest deportation, a mass deportation, in American history.”

“Imagine what that would look like and what that would be? How’s that going to happen? Massive raids? Massive detention camps? What are they talking about?” she said.

Former president Trump has promised to carry out “the largest deportation operation in the history of our country” if he's elected in November. He has offered no details on how such an operation would work.

Trump, who has leaned into immigration as a top campaign issue, has an advantage over Harris in opinion polling on whom voters trust to better handle the issue.

Trump was expected in Uniondale later in the day, visiting an area that could be key to Republicans maintaining control of the House. His party is trying to protect 18 Republicans in Democratic-heavy congressional districts that Joe Biden carried in 2020, particularly in coastal New York and California, and going on offense to challenge Democrats elsewhere.

Long Island in particular features one of the most closely watched races, between first-term Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito and Democrat Laura Gillen. D’Esposito is a former New York Police detective who won in 2022 in a district that Biden won by about 15 percentage points in 2020.

Trump posted Tuesday on his Truth Social platform that the GOP has “a real chance of winning” New York “for the first time in many decades." In that same post, Trump also pledged that he would “get SALT back,” suggesting he would eliminate a cap on state and local tax deductions that were part of tax cut legislation he signed into law in 2017.

The so-called SALT cap has led to bigger tax bills for many residents of New York, New Jersey, California and other high-cost, high-tax states, and is an important campaign issue in those states, particularly among those New York Republicans serving in districts Biden won.

Harris' speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute marked the second day in a row that she has tended to constituencies considered key to the Democratic Party.

On Tuesday, she sat for an interview in Philadelphia with members of the National Association of Black Journalists. She decried Trump’s rhetoric and said voters should make sure he “can’t have that microphone again.” She has trips planned later in the week to Michigan and Wisconsin.

Trump is attempting to return to his campaign cadence after Sunday's apparent assassination attempt as he golfed in Florida. On Tuesday, he traveled to Flint, Michigan, and has not appeared to alter plans for upcoming trips to the nation's capital and North Carolina later in the week.

His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, scheduled an event in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Wednesday.

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

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Kinnard reported from Houston. Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris Vice is interviewed by National Association of Black Journalists members Tonya Mosley, and Gerren Keith Gaynor, with moderator Eugene Daniels, at the WHYY studio in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during a town hall event at the Dort Financial Center, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Flint, Mich. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris boarding Air Force Two, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, near Philadelphia International Airport, in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump on stage with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders during a town hall event at the Dort Financial Center, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Flint, Mich. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)