Hendricks' gem pitches Cubs past Cardinals
When Kyle Hendricks went on the disabled list in early June, he had an ERA of 4.09.
Coming off a season in which he was the ERA champ at 2.13, that wasn't working.
But guess what? Hendricks looks to be fully back, and Saturday's 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals put an exclamation point on that.
The 27-year-old right-hander turned in his seventh straight quality start and was able to push it to 7⅔ innings.
He left the game only after a southeast wind at Wrigley Field kept pushing and pushing a fly ball by Matt Carpenter over the wall in left for a home run.
Hendricks' day was done at that point, but the box score says he is now 7-5 with a 3.22 ERA. That's called peaking before the playoffs.
The Cubs are getting closer to that goal. The victory was their fifth straight, and it left them with a record of 82-66 and pushed the third-place Cardinals to 5 games behind in the National League Central.
"That was another step forward, I guess, something I've definitely been trying to do - pitch deeper into games, into the seventh or past 6 the last few," Hendricks said. "So to get into the eighth means I was getting some early outs. I really felt good with Willson (catcher Contreras) back there. We were on the same page. Really throwing the ball well, hitting spots. He was giving me a good target."
More important, Hendricks gradually is getting that wider disparity between the speed of his fastball and changeup. The fastball hit 87 and 88 mph against the Cardinals, making his changeup more effective.
"He was really good," said manager Joe Maddon. "When I went out to the mound to take him out, Javy (shortstop) Baez said that was 89 (mph), that last pitch, which was the hardest pitch he threw all day."
The Cubs did leave 12 runners on base, but they got enough offense, with Albert Almora Jr. doubling twice and hitting a single. He and Ian Happ had back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth, and Almora drove in another with a double in the fifth. Addison Russell's pinch-hit homer in the eighth gave the Cubs some insurance and closer Wade Davis got the final three outs for his 30th save in 30 chances, extending his Cubs record.
Almora doesn't play every day - to the chagrin of many fans - but he's never been one to complain.
"I've always said it's not about me, it's about the Chicago Cubs," said Almora, who has a line of .299/.341/.442 in 278 at-bats. "Obviously, we trust Joe to do whatever he's going to do to put the best lineup out there every day to win games. When I'm given my opportunity, I'm just trying to go out there and help the team win."
Maddon gets asked about lineup construction almost every day. He gave a similar answer about Almora to the one he often gave last year when he was picking spots for Baez.
"Maybe he's doing so (well) because we're putting him in the right spots," Maddon said. "There's always that thing, too. Happ had another big hit today. Happ's done really well. Jon Jay continues to do a lot of good things. (Kyle) Schwarber's got to play, also. Nice problem, trying to figure out the lineup every day. We'll still try to make our best guesses on a daily basis and keep them all looking good and keep them all fresh for hopefully the remainder of this season into the postseason.
"I love what (Almora) is doing right now. What he's doing is he's not missing his pitch right now. It's not getting fouled off, and he's not taking it."