Chicago Cubs' Hendricks continues to dazzle

ST. LOUIS - Perhaps the highest words of praise for Chicago Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks came from his catcher.

"He's a pitcher," catcher Miguel Montero said Monday night, a few minutes after catching 8 innings of 1-hit ball from Hendricks. "He located his fastball. He kept hitters off-balance.

"He's fun to watch because you can see it from last year to this year how he's been getting better every single outing.

"To me, it's an honor to catch him because I like to help him and I like to learn, myself, with him. He's been teaching me so much."

Hendricks had a no-hitter going until the ninth inning of the Cubs' 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Jeremy Hazelbaker led off with a home run on an 0-2 pitch. Hendricks exited the game after that.

Despite the homer, Hendricks made Cardinals hitters look bad all game with an array of pitches. Never a power guy, Hendricks changes speeds and locates. But he can sneak a good fastball by hitters now and then.

"It's just a different form of dominance," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "Everybody wants dominance to be pure force. Finesse can be dominant also when it's done properly like he does it.

"But the other thing is he's added a little bit when he's added that little wrinkle with the four-seamer (fastball). You saw some 90s and some 91s (mph) pop up.

"He's added that, which really makes it more difficult. Imagine you're in the batter's box and the ball's moving both ways, and all of a sudden, this thing just comes at you straight, and it's well located at 90-91. It looks probably like 95.

"He's really very bright, as we all know. A couple little wrinkles he's added this year have really benefited him."

The 26-year-old Hendricks is 15-7 with a 2.03 ERA, best in baseball. His WHIP of 0.96 is second in the National League to that of Washington's Max Scherzer (0.92).

Last year, in his first full big-league season, Hendricks was 8-7 with a 3.95 ERA.

At one point in 2015, mechanics failed Hendricks. He spent a good part of one afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field going over them with pitching coach Chris Bosio.

"Last year, my mechanics weren't where they were (now)," Hendricks said. "My confidence, either. I was almost like a two-pitch pitcher taking the mound. So this year, mixing all four of those pitches in has been a tremendous help for me. It keeps hitters off-balance.

"It's allowed me to do more with my game plan, too. Even (Monday) I threw a lot of really good curveballs, used my four-seam a lot. It's just part of my game now. Just trying to keep that consistency going forward."

It seems Hendricks is inspiring others, too.

"He's the best prepared guy before any time he takes the mound," Montero said. "He prepares himself better than anybody I've caught in my career. He's got a pretty good feel for the hitters.

"It's been fun because he's a guy who wants to learn every day. He wants to learn. He wants to get better. He's open-minded for whatever advice you want to give him."

Montero also has noticed the difference between this year and last with Hendricks.

"He's just not falling into a pattern that he did last year," the catcher said. "Last year was too predictable. And he knows that. Last year I don't think he was ready to do that change because it was probably too much to ask a guy who has been big leagues for one year.

"He's working the corners, in and out, righty or lefty. He's really unpredictable now."

Hendricks is a bona fide Cy Young candidate. Maddon doesn't mind doing a little campaigning on his behalf.

"Spectacular performance," Maddon said of the 1-hit effort. "It's got to catapult him in the minds of people voting right now. That was spectacular."