
Cubs ace Shota Imanaga progressing from hamstring strain
CHICAGO (AP) -- Chicago Cubs ace left-hander Shota Imanaga has taken a step toward returning from a left hamstring strain that has sidelined him since May 4, manager Craig Counsell said on Wednesday.
Before the Cubs series finale again Colorado, Imanaga threw a 28-pitch bullpen session, ran and took fielding practice.
"So all in all, a very good workday," Counsell said. "Kind of repeat that this weekend, assuming everything turns up well tomorrow, and then go from there."
Imanaga would next progress to the Cubs training facility in Mesa, Arizona. That could happen when the Cubs start a nine-game road trip Tuesday, Counsell said.
Imanaga was an All-Star last season, his first in the majors after coming from Japan, going 15-3 with a 2.91 ERA in 29 starts. He signed a $53 million, four-year contract with Chicago in January 2024, then finished fourth in balloting for the NL Rookie of the Year.
The 31-year-old started this season at 3-2 and 2.82 ERA in eight starts before getting hurt in Milwaukee as when he went to cover first base on a potential double play in the sixth inning of a 4-0 loss.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Mainichi
16 hours ago
- The Mainichi
2 fans died and an officer is in a coma after Champions League celebrations in France
PARIS (AP) -- Two fans died and a police officer is in a coma after mass nationwide celebrations for Paris Saint-Germain's historic Champions League victory, European soccer's biggest prize, French authorities said Sunday. A 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death in the city of Dax during a PSG street party after Saturday night's final in Munich, the national police service said. A man was killed in Paris when his scooter was hit by a car during PSG celebrations, the interior minister's office said. The circumstances of both are being investigated. A police officer was hit accidentally by fireworks in Coutance in northwest France and placed in an artificial coma because of grave eye injuries, the national police service said. Hundreds of people were arrested in the celebrations, which were largely peaceful but degenerated into violence in some areas. The team is expected to return to a big parade on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday after clinching its first Champions League title, a 5-0 win over Inter Milan. At the top of the Champs-Elysees avenue, a water cannon was used to protect the Place de l'Etoile, near the landmark Arc de Triomphe. Police said a large crowd not watching the match tried to push through a barrier to make contact with police. By 2 a.m. Sunday, a total of 294 arrests had been made, including 30 people who broke into a shoe shop on the Champs-Elysees. Two cars were set alight close to Parc des Princes, police added. At the Place de la Bastille, there were joyous scenes as fans climbed onto the base of the famous column, singing, dancing and letting off flares, while those around joined in. At one point, motorbikes loudly revved their engines and the crowd cheered as they did laps around the column. There were no police nearby and, by 1 a.m., the atmosphere was upbeat with no tensions and plenty of singing. Security had been tightened up in anticipation of potential post-match violence and 5,400 police officers were deployed on the Champs-Elysees, other key parts of Paris, and its nearby suburbs.


The Mainichi
a day ago
- The Mainichi
Doue double leads PSG thrashing of Inter Milan for first Champions League trophy
MUNICH (AP) -- Paris Saint-Germain, Champions League winner. At long last the club that was transformed by Qatari billions and bought and sold a succession of the world's greatest players in an extravagant bid to get to the top has got its hands on the big one. European club soccer's grandest prize has a new home after PSG thrashed Inter Milan 5-0 in Saturday's final in Munich. "It's in the bag, it's coming home with us to Paris tomorrow," coach Luis Enrique said. "My first day at the PSG campus I said the ultimate goal was to fill the trophy cabinet. The only trophy missing was the Champions League. Here we have ticked that box." It was the trophy that not even Lionel Messi, Neymar or Kylian Mbappe could deliver to the French club. Luis Enrique has achieved it after overseeing PSG's shift from the era of galactico signings to one of genuine team-building. Fitting then that Desire Doue, the 19-year-old French forward, emblematic of the club's new generation, was the chief inspiration and player of the match as PSG recorded the biggest win in a final in the competition's 70-year history. In a scintillating performance, Doue scored two goals and set up another goal in little over an hour on the field before being substituted. "It is wonderful, it is magical, we are rewriting the history of this club and French football," he said. Achraf Hakimi, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and substitute Senny Mayulu all scored around Doue's double in a game in which PSG could have run out an even bigger winner. "It's exceptional," striker Ousmane Dembele said. "It's especially good since we did it in style." PSG joins European royalty Now PSG can truly sit alongside the royalty of European soccer. Not by virtue of turnover or merchandizing but on the merits of its achievements on the field. The Champions League is the ultimate barometer of the continent's elite clubs and up until now PSG has been a flashy contender that always came up short. That all changed at Allianz Arena, the home of Bayern Munich, one of the titans of Europe, and a fitting stage for PSG's crowning moment. Not least because it was against Bayern that it lost its only other Champions League final in 2020, leaving Neymar in tears in an empty stadium in Lisbon where fans were locked out because of the pandemic. On this occasion, thousands of PSG supporters were there to revel in the moment, waving flags, lighting flares and drowning out their rivals from Inter, many of whose supporters left the stadium long before the final whistle. They'd been partying in the streets of Munich throughout the day, but that was nothing compared to the scenes of joy when captain Marquinhos held the trophy aloft with fireworks and golden confetti exploding behind him. "I have nothing left, I have given everything," Marquinhos told broadcaster Canal Plus. "The fans are proud of us. Make the most of it guys, I love you." After so many setbacks in this competition, PSG truly delivered on the night. It took just 12 minutes for the French champion to go ahead with a move of speed and precision when Vitinha's threaded pass into the box found the feet of Doue. The forward could have shot, but instead slid in Hakimi to tap into an open net. Former Inter player Hakimi muted his celebrations, but the PSG fans went wild. Eight minutes later and the lead was doubled when Doue's shot from the right of the box deflected off Federico Dimarco and past Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer. He got his second in the 63rd, sliding the ball into the bottom corner when through on goal. Kvaratskhelia added the fourth 10 minutes later and Mayulu struck in the 86th, just two minutes after coming on. Doue and Mayulu became the third and fourth teenagers to score in a Champions League final following Patrick Kluivert in 1995 and Carlos Alberto in 2004. Luis Enrique doubles and trebles Luis Enrique, who won the 2015 Champions League with Barcelona, became the seventh coach to win the trophy with two different teams, joining greats Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho. He also led PSG to a first treble of trophies -- the Champions League added to Ligue 1 and the French Cup -- matching his achievement with Barcelona 10 years ago. His players threw him high in the air in celebration after the whistle. "We are ambitious, we are going to continue to conquer the football world," he said. For PSG, this moment has been 14 years in the making since it was bought by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011 and, awash with newfound riches, targeted marquee signings to speed up its route to the top. Galacticos era In came superstars Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Beckham and Edinson Cavani. The ante was further upped with the arrivals of Neymar for a world record $262 million, Mbappe and finally Messi, allowing PSG to field possibly the richest array of forwards ever assembled, but still no Champions League trophy to show for it. The departure of that last stellar trio over the past two years has been the turning point, with a greater focus on the team rather than a collection of stars. Not that PSG's transformation hasn't come at a cost. It may make for a nice narrative that it has eschewed the big spending approach of before to organically assemble a team to beat all-comers from across Europe. The opposite is true. While it is without the marquee players of the past, this is still one of the most expensive squads in world soccer. The win will also raise more questions about nation state involvement in soccer and so-called sportswashing, given Qatar's lavish backing of PSG in enabling it to conquer Europe. It's victory comes just two years after Abu Dhabi-backed Manchester City won the trophy, again against Inter. Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund owns Newcastle, which will return to the Champions League next season with ambitions of its own. Inter disappointment Inter, meanwhile, was on track for a treble just over a month ago, but has finished the season empty-handed. Having pushed Manchester City close in the final of 2023 in Istanbul, the Italian giant was totally outclassed by PSG. The sight of many empty seats on Inter's side of the stadium during the second half suggested fans had seen enough. "We are extremely disappointed," coach Simone Inzaghi said. "Defeats make you stronger. We've been through this before when we lost the final in Istanbul, but the following year we won the league title."


Yomiuri Shimbun
a day ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Maja Stark Avoids Mistakes to Take 1-Shot Lead into Final Round of the U.S. Women's Open
The Associated Press Maja Stark, of Sweden, putts on the seventh hole during the third round of the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament at Erin Hills Saturday, May 31, 2025, in Erin, Wis. ERIN, Wis. (AP) — Maja Stark could tell pretty early Saturday that Erin Hills would provide much more of a challenge than it had in the first two days of the U.S. Women's Open. Yet she found a way to avoid the mistakes that befell so many other competitors during a brutal third round. Now the 25-year-old from Sweden is in position to earn the $2.4 million prize in the biggest event of the women's golf season. Stark shot a 2-under 70 to give her a 7-under 209 total and a one-shot advantage heading into the final round Sunday. Julia Lopez Ramirez of Spain was second after a 68, the best score of the day. 'I think I'm just going to try to play freely,' Stark said. 'I think that no one has ever played well when they've been playing scared, and I think that's been my habit before, to just kind of try to hang on to it.' The Japanese trio of Rio Takeda (70), Hinako Shibuno (72) and second-round leader Mao Saigo (75) followed at 5 under. Top-ranked Nelly Korda was 4 under after a 73. Speedier greens and tricker pin placements wreaked havoc with just about everyone on the course, leading to plenty of double bogeys and triple bogeys. One example of this came on the par-4 15th, when Esther Henseleit's eagle putt from 55 feet away rolled 90 feet beyond the hole and went into the rough. Henseleit ended up with a double bogey. 'It's so hard because they tend to put holes that are right on the edges of the slopes, so you can see going into the grain and up until the hole, and then after the hole you just see that the grain is going the other way,' Stark said. 'It's just so hard to get the distances right. It's really scary when you know if you putt this five feet by, then that's gone.' The struggles of the field helped Lopez Ramirez make a surprising surge less than three months after an appendectomy. Lopez Ramirez hasn't finished higher than a tie for 29th in any of her seven LPGA Tour appearances this season, though the 22-year-old rookie was the Southeastern Conference player of the year in 2023 and 2024 at Mississippi State. 'I do believe that obviously when you're in college and you're about to win an event you have the same nerves,' Lopez Ramirez said. 'That's the most you care in that moment. You just want to win that tournament.' Saigo took a three-shot lead into the day but made three straight bogeys at Nos. 4-6 to drop into a tie for first. She made an 8 1/2-foot birdie putt on No. 12 to move back into sole possession of the lead, but Stark tied her with a 21 1/2-foot birdie on the par-3 16th. Saigo then bogeyed the last two to fall two back. She said the pin placements caused her the biggest problems on Saturday. 'The first thing is I'd like to rest well and then tomorrow (come out) refreshed and I'd like to start from zero,' Saigo said through an interpreter. Plenty of other contenders faced similar misfortune. A Lim Kim, who entered Saturday in a six-way tie for second place, birdied No. 1 to get to 6 under, then went 7 over for the next four holes. Kim bogeyed No. 2, double-bogeyed No. 3, triple-bogeyed No. 4 and bogeyed No. 5. She ended up with a 77. Jinhee Im birdied two of her first three holes to get to 6 under before she triple-bogeyed the par-4 fourth. Noh also was at 6 under before a double bogey on No. 3. Im ended up with a 79, and Noh shot 75. Korda also struggled early before coming on strong late. Korda had a 40 on the front nine with four bogeys and no birdies, but rallied with three birdies on her last five holes. 'It's just a golf course where you may not hit it in the right spot and it'll go down 40 feet and instead of being almost tap-in range, now you have a 40-foot chip where it's running off the back, as well,' Korda said. 'You just know that your mentality is that you're going to make mistakes, but you can also bounce back here.'