Hendricks channels his inner Maddux, leads Cubs past St. Louis
Cameron Maybin came to the Cubs in a trade with Detroit, but he's seen enough of Kyle Hendricks over his career to arrive at a nickname.
"I'd tell my teammates we're facing 'Baby Maddux,' because he can throw the ball wherever he wants to throw it," Maybin said. "He knows how to pitch. When I came into the league, there were a lot of guys like that. So it's nice to see a guy still out there with pinpoint control and just take the bat out of a team's hands."
Maybin's nickname was a reference to Greg Maddux, the Hall of Fame pitcher who came up with the Cubs. But Hendricks provided a modern vintage performance in Monday's 5-1 victory over St. Louis at Wrigley Field.
Hendricks (5-4) scattered 7 hits over 8 innings and walked no one. It was his 38th straight game with 2 or fewer walks, which is the longest streak for a Cubs pitcher since at least 1901.
"I didn't know that," he said after the game. "It's something I'm shooting for, I guess. So it's a good result to have. That's a huge key for me, not walking guys."
Hendricks snapped a personal three-game losing streak in his last start against Pittsburgh, so this performance was exactly what the Cubs were hoping for, a return to form from one of their most reliable starters.
They finished the season series with the Cardinals at 5-5, stretching their lead in the NL Central to 2½ games. And this is what the Cubs have in mind for the postseason. If Hendricks and Yu Darvish are at the top of their games, they might have a chance to advance a round or two.
"Today much better mentally to start, was aggressive," Hendrick said. "My timing felt better, fastball command was much better, which is the key. (Catcher Victor) Caratini really made me establish the fastball early, which really helped everything. Changeup feel was much better overall."
After his last start, Hendricks talked about losing the timing on his changeup, but that was back as well.
"It was weird," he said. "It was just one of those where after the Pittsburgh start, the day after, I go out to play catch just real light and the changeup was the best it's felt, that day. So it kind of came from there. My bullpen was really good. Pregame it was really good.
"I threw a lot of them to try to lock it in. That's just how it works sometimes. Hopefully I can keep it right where it is because that's obviously a big pitch for me."
This started out like it might be one of those days for the Cubs. The first inning began with a double by Ian Happ and single from Kris Bryant. But the only run scored on a double play by Anthony Rizzo.
But they kept adding on against Cardinals starter Johan Oviedo. Jason Kipnis led off the third with a single and scored on a sacrifice fly. Maybin and Kipnis hit back-to-back doubles in the fourth. Then after Cardinals errors put two runners on, Willson Contreras delivered a 2-run single to make it 5-0.
The Cubs did some early infield practice before Monday's game, then turned 3 double plays.
"We've kind of gone this year how our starting pitching has gone," manager David Ross said. "When we started off so hot, everybody was dealing. One win isn't going to put us where we need to be, but we're moving in the right direction."
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