Hendricks stymies Rangers, Cubs defeat Texas 6-0
The Chicago Cubs kicked the second half off right as they defeated the Texas Rangers 6-0 Friday afternoon. Cubs starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks was in complete control as he dominated the Rangers lineup.
Hendricks stymied hitters all day using his sinker as his go-to pitch forcing Texas hitters to hit into 11 groundball outs. He finished the day with 6 shutout innings and allowing just 3 hits, 2 walks and striking out three to earn his eighth win of the season. No Ranger reached third base after the first inning against him.
“Really, I just went out there trying to be simple with our game plan. Establish my fastball, see where that was at,” Hendricks said. “I was surprised, actually, with how good I felt still, stayed with my mechanics. Kind of picked up right where I was.”
Hendricks' consistency is much needed for the Cubs starting rotation following a rough end to the first half. His performance on Friday ended a team streak of 10 games without a quality start, the last coming from John Lackey back on June 30 against the Mets. Kendricks 2.41 ERA ranks third in the National League trailing only perennial Cy Young candidates Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner.
“Kyle's one of the best pitchers in the National League and nobody is talking about him. His ability to command his fastball, which permits the other pitches that play off of that,” said Cubs manager Joe Maddon of his starting pitcher. “I think because he doesn't throw 95 it's easy to overlook this fella.”
Rangers starter Martin Perez had the game under control after a Javier Baez 2-out RBI-single in the second inning. He matched Hendricks pitch for pitch until he ran into a buzz saw in the sixth inning. The Cubs batted around in the sixth scoring 5 runs on 4 hits with the big blows coming from two 2-run singles from Addison Russell and Matt Szczur.
“I was really impressed with the way we came out after a break, we looked energized and really played some defense,” said Maddon. I couldn't have envisioned a better start the way we played.”
The Cubs are now 54-35 on the season and look to take the series Saturday afternoon in Game 2 of the three-game set. Jason Hammel (7-5, 3.46 ERA) will take the hill for the Cubs and Yu Darvish (2-0, 2.87 ERA) will start for the Rangers. It will be Darvish's first start since going on the disabled list back on June 14.
• Follow Russell on Twitter-@Russ_Dorsey1