Shota Imanaga had another strong start, and Pete Crow-Armstrong had a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the fifth inning as the visiting Chicago Cubs beat the New York Mets 1-0 on Wednesday.

"In terms of today, my fastball velocity wasn't at the highest, but I was able to communicate with (catcher Miguel) Amaya and make adjustments," Imanaga said through his interpreter.

Nico Hoerner had two hits and a stolen base for the Cubs, who won two of the first three games of the four-game series.

Imanaga (5-0) gave up three hits and one walk while striking out seven over seven scoreless innings. The seven innings were a career high for Imanaga, who lowered his major league-leading ERA from 0.98 to 0.78.

"It was outstanding," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said after the game. "It was just seven really strong innings, wasn't in trouble really ... it was crisp, it was clean, just a great, really well-pitched game."

Imanaga entered Wednesday as the first starting pitcher to begin his career with a 4-0 record or better and an ERA below 1.00 in his first five starts since Dave Ferriss (5-0 with a 0.60 ERA) of the Boston Red Sox in 1945.

"He's had six really good starts," Counsell said. "They've all been good. Getting seven innings is obviously a big deal, but they've all been good. He's just been doing a heck of a job."

Jeff McNeil collected a pair of hits for the Mets, who have lost seven of 10.

New York mounted mini-threats in the second, third and fifth innings against Imanaga.

With two on in the second, Imanaga got Harrison Bader to hit into a double play. Tyrone Taylor singled and stole second with two outs in the third before Starling Marte grounded out. McNeil led off the fifth with a single, after which Bader popped out, McNeil was forced out at second on a grounder by Brett Baty and Tomas Nido popped out.

The Mets threatened again in the eighth, when Baty singled with one out against Mark Leiter Jr. and pinch hitter DJ Stewart drew a walk before Taylor and Marte struck out against Yency Almonte.

The Mets had runners on second and third with one out in the ninth against Hector Neris, who earned his fifth save when McNeil flew into a double play in which Pete Alonso was thrown out trying to tag and score from third to end the game.

Mets starter Jose Butto (0-2) allowed one run on four hits and two walks while striking out six over six innings.

Butto gave up a leadoff double to Hoerner and walked Mike Tauchman before retiring 12 of the next 13 batters.

The Cubs scored their run in the fifth, when Matt Mervis led off with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch by Butto. Mervis remained at third after Miguel Amaya lined out to right before trotting home on Crow-Armstrong's flyout to the warning track in right.

Elsewhere, Kenta Maeda (1-1) recorded his first victory in a Detroit Tigers uniform in a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Maeda gave up one run on four hits. He didn't walk a batter while striking out five.

"I was successful in carefully locating my pitches today, and great defense by our team," Maeda said.

Tigers relievers Will Vest, Joey Wentz and Alex Lange combined for three shutout innings, with Lange recording his second save.

In Phoenix, Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw six scoreless innings to help lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to an 8-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Yamamoto (3-1) gave up five hits and two walks while striking out five. He lowered his ERA from 3.54 to 2.91, and he hasn't lost a game since his debut on March 21.

Mookie Betts went 3-for-5 and drove in two runs while Andy Pages and Will Smith homered for the Dodgers, who have won eight of their past 10 games.

The Boston Red Sox placed left fielder Masataka Yoshida on the 10-day injured list on due to a left thumb strain. The move is retroactive to Monday.

Yoshida, 30, has hit .275 with two home runs and 11 RBIs through 24 games this season. He is in his second year with Boston after finishing sixth in American League Rookie of the Year voting in 2023.

Injuries have decimated the Red Sox this year, and they currently have 14 players on the IL. Among them are first baseman Triston Casas, shortstop Trevor Story and right-handers Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, Garrett Whitlock and Liam Hendriks.