CHICAGO – Cubs lefty Shota Imanaga spun around on the mound, grimaced and threw his head back, looking to the heavens. Manny Machado tossed away his bat and turned to his Padres teammates in the first-base dugout, flexing and shouting as he bounded up the line.

At a critical point in Game 2 of the National League Wild Card Series on Wednesday, Imanaga chose to challenge Machado, and the decision backfired in momentum-swinging fashion. Machado’s towering two-run blast in the fifth inning helped send the Cubs to a 3-0 loss at Wrigley Field and, in turn, forced a decisive Game 3 on Thursday.

While Chicago’s lineup went dark against Padres righty Dylan Cease and San Diego’s deep relief corps, it was the Imanaga versus Machado matchup that rightfully wound up under the microscope. That

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