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MESA, Ariz. -- Shota Imanaga had faced Seiya Suzuki during their days playing in Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The lefty pitcher Imanaga starred for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars before signing with the Cubs on Jan. 11, while Suzuki was a prolific slugger for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp before he joined the North Siders two years ago.

They squared off again as teammates on Field 6 at the Cubs’ complex on Wednesday afternoon, when Imanaga completed a live batting practice session. Before the workout, the pitcher told Suzuki that he would only throw him fastballs. That changed when Suzuki stepped into the box.

“He looks bigger,” Imanaga said via an interpreter. “And I don’t want to lose to him. So, I lied to him. I threw him a breaking ball, too.”

That was the first offering Imanaga fired to Suzuki, who took the inside pitch to open what grew into a seven-pitch battle. Imanaga followed that initial breaking pitch with four fastballs, including three that Suzuki fouled off. The lefty tried another breaking ball, which Suzuki again ignored to run the simulated at-bat to a full count.

Imanaga then unleashed a sharp fastball inside, and Suzuki swung through the pitch for a strikeout.

“That fastball is real nice,” said Cubs slugger Patrick Wisdom, who had two at-bats against Imanaga in the same live BP. “He threw one into me, and it got in there. Offspeed's nice, too. It's just nice getting in there and seeing what he's all about. It's just fun to compete against guys like that.”

Suzuki said Imanaga’s fastball presents a few challenges for batters.

“His fastball outside is really, really effective,” Suzuki said this week via his interpreter, Toy Matsushita. “That's a [pitch] I feel like would be really, really hard for the opposing hitters to kind of get adjusted to.”

Imanaga -- signed to a four-year, $53 million deal by the Cubs -- logged around 25 pitches in the outing. The lefty will have another live BP workout to build up to two innings before transitioning into a Cactus League game. The pitcher said the simulated setting is giving him early feedback on his pitches and how Major League batters react.

It was only a brief session, but Imanaga already noticed how the hitters adjusted in their second at-bat. That included Wisdom, who launched a home run to left field on what Imanaga called a “bad slider” that stayed up in the zone.

“The hitters are able to adjust quickly,” Imanaga said. “I threw a lot of fastballs today, but I’ll make sure I use a lot of different pitches next time.”

Suzuki only had the one plate appearance against Imanaga, but that was probably fine with the lefty. Imanaga did lead NPB in strikeouts last year (174), but Suzuki had 38 homers and an NPB-best 1.073 OPS when he last played in Japan in 2021.

“I gave up a lot of home runs,” Imanaga said of their past meetings. “So, he’s probably [mad] that we are on the same team right now, because his home run number is going to go down."