Shota Imanaga threw the first seven innings of a combined no-hitter as the host Chicago Cubs recorded a 12-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday.

Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge each tossed a perfect inning to complete the 18th no-hitter in franchise history.

Imanaga (12-3) struck out seven and walked two while throwing 95 pitches for the Cubs (72-68).

After the game, Cubs manager Craig Counsell explained why he took out Imanaga.

"You're taking care of Shota," Counsell said. "It's 100 percent about taking care of Shota and making sure we're doing the right thing for him. It's not fun to do, but when you're prioritizing the player's health and making sure you don't know what's gonna happen moving forward. We want him to stay healthy. He's at a career high in innings.

"He actually didn't know he had a no-hitter going at all, which is funny. ... For us, it was the right thing to do."

Chicago's last no-hitter was another combined effort, when Zach Davies, Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin and Craig Kimbrel beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-0 on June 24, 2021. The Pirates were held hitless for the first time since they were stymied by the Chicago White Sox's Lucas Giolito on Aug. 25, 2020.

The Cubs authored the fourth no-hitter in the majors this season, the first since the San Francisco Giants' Blake Snell no-hit the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 2.

Hodge induced three groundouts to shortstop to end the game, the last from Oneil Cruz, to salvage the finale of a three-game series against the Pirates (65-74).

Dansby Swanson and Pete Crow-Armstrong each homered as part of a three-hit, three-RBI performance.

Cody Bellinger belted a two-run homer, Ian Happ added a two-run single and Miles Mastrobuoni had an RBI single.

Pittsburgh's Bryan Reynolds reached on the first of three errors by third baseman Isaac Paredes before being erased on an inning-ending double play in the first. Imanaga retired the side in order in the third, fourth, fifth and seventh innings.

"Every time he's stepped on the mound, we got a really good chance of winning," Pearson said of Imanaga. "Today was evident of that. He went deep in the game. And in that case, we're just getting ready to pitch. Do our part. Just follow his lead. He set the tone."

The Cubs wasted little time getting the early jump on the Pirates. Reynolds' error in left field allowed Happ to score on Seiya Suzuki's single in the first inning.

Crow-Armstrong's RBI double and Happ's two-run single extended Chicago's lead to 4-0 in the second. In the third, Swanson deposited an 0-2 curveball from Domingo German (0-1) over the wall in left field. The homer was Swanson's 14th of the season and second in three games.

Crow-Armstrong immediately followed by sending a 1-0 curveball from German over the wall in center field to stake Chicago to a 7-0 lead. It was Crow-Armstrong's eighth homer of the year.

German permitted seven runs (six earned) on nine hits in three innings. He struck out three and walked one.

Swanson and Crow-Armstrong each drove in a run in the fifth inning before Bellinger drilled a first-pitch fastball from Kyle Nicolas over the center field wall in the sixth. The homer was Bellinger's 15th of the season.

--Field Level Media