Unthinkable? San Diego Padres sweep Chicago Cubs in doubleheader

It was going to happen sooner or later, the Chicago Cubs losing a game.

But two in a row? Unthinkable, at least this season.

The San Diego Padres made sure both things happened in one day, sweeping Wednesday's day-night doubleheader from the Cubs, 7-4 in the afternoon and 1-0 at night.

The Cubs committed some mistakes in the first game as their eight-game winning streak came to an end. That ruined an otherwise solid pitching performance by starter Kyle Hendricks.

There was more good pitching in the nightcap, with John Lackey owning a perfect game until Christian Bethancourt crushed a home run out of the park to left field with two outs the fifth inning. Lackey worked 8 innings of 3-hit ball.

The Cubs lost consecutive games for the first time since last Sept. 23-26, when they lost three straight.

"Listen, we've done pretty good," said Cubs manager Joe Maddon after the first game. "We made a couple mistakes today. Our pitcher was outstanding. He hit a lot of balls really well. They beat us. I give them credit. You've got to give the other side credit."

Hendricks turned in his second straight quality start in getting a no-decision.

"I think from the first inning, I didn't feel too sharp, honestly," he said after walking one and striking out eight in 6⅔ innings. "My fastball command was a little bit all over the place. So I relied on my changeup early. It felt really good for me from the get-go. After I relied on my changeup for a couple innings, my fastball command started coming back."

Hendricks retired the first two batters in the seventh with the Cubs leading 4-2 before Travis Jankowski bunted for a single. Maddon went to reliever Pedro Strop, who did get a groundball. But third baseman Javier Baez threw the ball away for a single and an error, scoring Jankowski.

After Strop walked Matt Kemp, Brett Wallace hit a 3-run homer. Strop wound up retiring none of the five batters he faced.

"Kyle pitched really well," Maddon said. "He kept getting better and better game in progress. I felt really good about Stropie.

"He got the groundball. We didn't make the play. We just made some mistakes today that we haven't been making. Hit some balls really good. We scored 4 points."

One of the players who greeted reporters after Game 1 was right fielder Jason Heyward, who went 1-for-4, as his batting average fell to .212. In the off-season, Heyward signed an eight-year, $184 contract with the Cubs. He said it's possible he has been trying to do too much.

"You could say it's a little bit of all of the above, but at the same time I think I was right around doing the same thing same time last year," he said. "That happens. I've been a slow starter. I've done that before, bounce back. You look back and nobody's thinking about April or May. That's not something you want to have happen."