Shota Imanaga realized something was up when he saw the look on manager Craig Counsell’s face.

Imanaga is used to seeing Counsell happy after the lefty produces a start like Wednesday night for the Chicago Cubs — seven shutout innings — but the skipper appeared a little worried as he approached him in the dugout. That’s when Imanaga learned there was an additional wrinkle to his stellar outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates: The Japanese star hadn’t allowed a hit through seven innings.

Imanaga, though, was at 95 pitches, not helped by a pair of errors from third baseman Isaac Paredes in the sixth, prompting Counsell to turn to the bullpen for the final six outs. Two hard-throwing relievers, Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge, picked up where Imanaga left off, combining to throw a no-hitter in the Cubs’ 12-0 victory in front of 30,369 fans.

Hodge forced Oneil Cruz to ground out weakly to shortstop Dansby Swanson to end the game. Hodge slapped his mitt and hugged catcher Miguel Amaya in celebration after watching first baseman Michael Busch secure the throw from Swanson. Amaya and the three pitchers signed the ball from the final out, and it will be donated to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

“Everybody contributed to this,” Amaya said. “Defense, each batter put their good at-bats down, it’s special. This is a beginning of a good streak. We can finish strong this season.”

It marked the 18th no-hitter in franchise history and the second combined no-no. The last Cubs no-hitter was also a combined effort by Zach Davies, Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin and Craig Kimbrel on June 24, 2021, at Dodger Stadium.

It was the Cubs’ first no-hitter at Wrigley since Milt Pappas in 1972.

Imanaga typically heads to the trainers room after he exits a game for his post-start exercise routine. This time he stayed in the dugout to watch the final two innings.

“Compared to Japan, all the players here get more excited about a no-hitter, and it doesn’t matter if the guys didn’t play, guys didn’t get a hit, everybody congratulated me,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “Everybody was cheering me on. So I’m just thankful and I have a lot of respect for all my teammates who got excited for me, excited for the win.”

Counsell had discussed with pitching coach Tommy Hottovy about pulling Imanaga after the sixth, ultimately letting him go one more inning. He understood it would not be a popular decision among fans.

“It’s always hard to do in that situation, but you’re taking care of Shota,” Counsell said. “I mean, it’s 100% 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, you don’t know what’s going to happen moving forward, and we want him to stay healthy. He’s at a career high in innings and doing a great job.

“That was, for us, the right thing to do.”

Imanaga wasn’t the only one involved who was unaware a no-hitter was progressing. Amaya and Pearson both found out what was happening when Cubs fans booed Pearson as he ran in from the left-field bullpen to warm up for the eighth inning.

“I realized, ‘Oh, we’ve probably got something on the line,’ “ Pearson said.

Hodge was surprised to hear Pearson say that during the postgame interviews. He saw Pearson looking at the TV in the bullpen then glanced at it himself and picked up on the situation.

“I smiled at him because I thought he knew but didn’t want to say anything,” Hodge said with a grin.

Pearson and Hodge kept a simple mentality with a no-hitter on the line. Pump strikes, attack the hitters and go one pitch at a time. Hodge described mixed emotions waiting for the ball to land in Busch’s mitt to end it, calling those final seconds nerve-wracking.

All three outs in the ninth were hit on the ground to Swanson, who was part of the first no-hitter of his career. He almost wasn’t on the field for the ninth. Counsell emptied the bench before the top of the eighth, taking out four starters, and Swanson was supposed to be part of it. When Swanson was informed he was being replaced, he bluntly said no and tried to convey why without outright verbalizing the no-hitter.

“I think at first they thought it was more for trying to get a triple (for the cycle) and, man, I don’t know if I can run that far,” Swanson joked. “It was more for the defensive stuff. … I got my way.”

Swanson, center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and second baseman Nico Hoerner each had three of the Cubs’ 17 hits. Swanson, Crow-Armstrong and Cody Bellinger all homered in the rout.

Hoerner didn’t play in the Cubs’ last combined no-hitter in 2021 because of an injury and took in the last six outs Wednesday from the dugout. He appreciated how the tension within Wrigley continued to build as fans stuck around for a chance to witness history despite the lopsided score.

“You could tell people were really locked in on the no-hitter from I think maybe the sixth inning I felt like you were getting more murmurs and things than normal in the crowd,” Hoerner said. “And that stuff is awesome, and it’s part of what makes a long season so exciting is every day can have something like that.”

Imanaga, who struck out seven Pirates, lowered his season ERA to 2.99 and leads the Cubs with 153 1/3 innings.

“He’s just a true pro,” Swanson said. “He goes about his work the same every day, whether he’s had a good outing or a bad outing. He’s always wanting to get better. He’s always doing the routine that he needs to do to be able to go back out again in five days and be able to pitch well. He’s always prepared.

“I’m not surprised by anything he does.”

Imanaga hopped off the mound to end the seventh as he watched the latest Pirate flail and fail to get a hit. His strikeout of third baseman Jared Triolo capped the memorable night for Imanaga, who took a no-hitter into at least the sixth inning for the third time.

“It’s really important for me to stay healthy for the whole season, throw my innings, make my starts, so he told me it’s time to switch pitchers, and I just trusted his judgment,” Imanaga said of the decision.

Imanaga’s main trouble came in the second when he walked two batters, prompting a visit from Hottovy. Otherwise, the trio of pitchers deftly navigated the Pirates lineup in the blowout win.

“The presence, the confidence that he shows up there, every single pitch is with intention, it’s not just get me over,” Amaya said.

The day started with the Cubs coming off two tough losses following the high of an 8-1 trip and the loss of Justin Steele — arguably their best starter — and reliever Jorge López to the injured list pregame, presenting a challenging backdrop to the team’s efforts to avoid being swept.

Wednesday’s postgame jubilation in the clubhouse provided a stark juxtaposition from the Cubs’ last 48 hours.

“It’s a beautiful game we play,” Swanson said. “The best way to play this game is literally every day like we play it because if you let one day roll into two it ends up rolling into 10 and then next thing you know it’s been a terrible couple of weeks. … That’s why I think it’s such a good life-lesson teacher because bad things are going to happen. That’s inevitable. It’s more about how you respond to it, and we’ve done a great job of that.”