Magic number down to 2: Hendricks pitches Cubs past Cardinals
Kyle Hendricks couldn't have it all Friday, but he and the Chicago Cubs got what they needed.
First, the important stuff.
Hendricks and the Cubs took care of business by beating the St. Louis Cardinals 8-4 at rainy Wrigley Field. That reduced the Cubs' magic number for clinching the National League Central to 2 pending the outcome of Friday night's game between the second-place Milwaukee Brewers and the Detroit Tigers at Miller Park.
Now for the gravy.
"Before the game, of course the scoreboard is right in front of you," said Cubs manager Joe Maddon, whose team is 94-66. "I said 14 wins and 200 innings. He (Hendricks) came up 1 inning short of having a chance to get 200."
Hendricks would have needed a complete game to reach the 200 mark for the season. As it was, he pitched 8 innings of 7-hit, 2-run ball with 104 pitches to improve to 14-11 with a 3.44 ERA. He'll have to settle for 199 innings pitched.
"I didn't think I was going to get close anyway," he said. "My last 3 starts helped a lot. Joe even told me he was aware of it a little bit, but in that situation, nothing you can do. And I told Joe, 'Don't worry about that at all. We got to win this game. That's No. 1.'
"It will give me something to shoot for next year."
Hendricks has looked to be in top playoff form this month. He earned his third straight win and has pitched at least 7⅔ innings in 3 straight starts for the first time in his career. The last Cubs pitcher to do that was Jake Arrieta during his Cy Young season of 2015, when he went 5 straight starts of at least 7⅔ innings.
All the credit to Hendricks for the surge. Two years removed from being the ERA champ in baseball, he overcame a hand ailment last year and endured a couple of dips at points this season before getting things together consistently.
"He's pitching with his best stuff, too, since I've known him," Maddon said. "There was not a lot of swing-and-miss, but velocity on the fastball, he's back to the weaker contact, I believe, in general. He looks strong. Ball out of the hand is good. The four-seam fastball is 88 (mph), sometimes 89. The two-seamer is what is supposed to be.
"He's a stronger version of Kyle. That's what I'm seeing."
The Cubs got on the board early against longtime Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright. They scored twice in the first inning and got a run in the fourth when Kris Bryant launched a 448-foot home run well over the wall in center field. It was Bryant's 13th homer of the season and his first at Wrigley Field since July 20. He has been battling a left-shoulder ailment much of the season. Bryant also missed the final two games of the Pirates series after getting hit on the wrist with a pitch.
"Huge for me," he said of the homer. "This year hasn't gone the way I had expected it or wanted it to. I think I have handled everything that's been thrown my way pretty great."
Hendricks gave up a pair of runs in the sixth inning before the Cubs blew it open late.
Even though the Cubs have the best record in the National League, it's been a season filled with bumps and bruises. Now they're a step closer at winning a division title and making a fourth straight playoff run.
"We always know what we have," Hendricks said. "No matter how we've been playing, we know what's in that (locker) room. And we always have confidence in that. So whether we're going through a bad stretch, whether we're playing great, we know coming in this day is all we have to focus on. We do a really good job of that, just prioritizing what's first.
"That's one game after another. I know the guys will come in with the same mindset tomorrow, just try and win that ballgame."