CHICAGO (AP) — Badly in need of a series victory, the Chicago Cubs turned to an old stalwart on a scorching hot Wednesday afternoon at Wrigley Field.
And for one day, at least, Kyle Hendricks turned the clock back to circa 2016.
The wily right-hander delivered a throwback performance in his return to the Cubs’ starting rotation and walked off the mound to a standing ovation after leading his team to a 6-5 win over the San Francisco Giants and a much-needed three-game series victory.
Hendricks pitched neatly into the sixth inning, allowing one run and two hits. It was a feel-good outing for someone who was banished to the bullpen after a terrible start to 2024, and the Cubs hope there’s more of that to come.
Hendricks (1-4) has now allowed just one run in his four June appearances, covering 14 1/3 innings.
“Honestly, I tried to keep it so simple,” Hendricks said Wednesday. “It maybe was like a dream in a way, but I truly tried to lock in on process.
“I was just so far from who I was as a pitcher that I really had to commit to my process, commit to getting better every day, almost resetting and restarting a career.”
Cubs hang on
Ian Happ hit a 442-foot homer and Dansby Swanson made it back-to-back longballs in the bottom of the fourth to back Hendricks on Wednesday, but the Cubs’ shaky bullpen made for a nerve-wracking ending once again.
After the Cubs scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh — keyed by Swanson’s two-out, two-run single — to take a 6-1 lead, former Cub Jorge Soler pulled the Giants within a run in the top of the eighth by blasting a 444-foot grand slam over the bleachers in left field against Tyson Miller.
Still hanging on to the one-run lead, Colten Brewer came on for the top of the ninth and pitched around back-to-back one-out walks to Wilmer Flores and Brett Wisely for his first save. That clinched the Cubs’ first three-game series victory since May 10-12 against the Pirates in Pittsburgh.
The Cubs had lost nine of their last 10 series since that one, the only series victory being a two-game sweep of the White Sox at Wrigley Field in the first half of the 2024 Crosstown Classic.
The Cubs also improved to 3-3 on their current nine-game homestand. Following a day off Thursday, they host the New York Mets for a three-game weekend series, beginning Friday at 1:20 p.m.
Hendricks shines
In his first start since May 17, Hendricks struck out eight for his highest strikeout total since he whiffed eight in a win at Detroit on May 16, 2021. He didn’t allow a hit until Thairo Estrada doubled to left leading off the sixth.
Estrada moved up on a bunt single by Wisely and scored on Heliot Ramos’ fielder’s-choice grounder, before Hendricks exited to that loud ovation.
“The great thing about Kyle is he never stops trying to figure it out, and he’s open to changing things, getting better, making adjustments, and that’s how you get out of that stuff, and that’s how you get to this place, and that’s how you keep going,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s that mindset that gets you to that place.”
“He’s been throwing the ball well these last couple outings,” said Swanson, who homered twice and drove in five runs in the final two games against the Giants.
“He shows up to do his job each and every day. I think there’s so many valuable life lessons in that.”
Hendricks has been a staple of the Cubs’ rotation since he debuted in 2014. He helped Chicago win the World Series in 2016, when he led the majors in ERA, and went 54-39 with a 3.00 ERA over a five-year stretch that began that season.
Hendricks suffered a capsule tear to the pitching shoulder that ended his 2022 season, and he began 2023 on the injured list as he worked his way back from that injury. He returned that May and posted a 3.74 ERA in 24 starts.
This season, however, has been tough.
Hendricks got off to a poor start and was placed on the 15-day injured list on April 23 with a low back strain. He returned May 12 and pitched five solid innings against Pittsburgh, only to get pounded by the Pirates in his next outing.
The Cubs then moved him to the bullpen, a big switch for a pitcher whose only relief appearances to that point were during the 2016 season and when he took the loss during a 13-inning 2018 NL Wild Card Game against Colorado.
But he’s pitched well in his past two outings.
Hendricks threw two-hit ball over 4 1/3 scoreless innings in Chicago’s loss to St. Louis last week after starter Jordan Wicks left the game because of a strained right oblique. With Wicks and Ben Brown (strained neck) on the 15-day injured list, the Cubs had an opening in their rotation.
“We had guys throwing way better than me, guys that were doing their thing, and it was super unfortunate for them to go down,” Hendricks said. “I know they’re going to be back soon. They’re gonna be a huge part of this team.
“I still have a long way to go. That’s just one today.”
Mays honored
On Wednesday, there was a moment of silence before the game for Willie Mays, and the Giants wore patches on their jerseys in honor of the Hall of Famer, who died on Tuesday.
Happ and Swanson connected against reliever Spencer Bivens (1-1) in a three-run fourth. Swanson went deep for the second straight game, and he also drove in two with a single in a three-run seventh.
Swanson then helped another run score when he got caught in a rundown trying to steal with Michael Busch batting. First baseman Flores dropped a throw and Christopher Morel came home from third, bumping Chicago’s lead to 6-1.
“I was trying to steal, but apparently, I’m slow now,” Swanson said.
In the eighth, Mark Leiter Jr. walked Matt Chapman and Austin Slater with two outs to set up Soler’s second career grand slam.
Erik Miller struck out two in a scoreless first inning as the opener in a bullpen game for San Francisco.
Up next
Cubs: LHP Shota Imanaga (7-1, 1.89) is set to start Friday, when the Cubs open a weekend series against the Mets. LHP Jose Quintana (2-5, 4.98) pitches for New York.
Quintana pitched for the White Sox from 2012-17. After being traded to the Cubs in 2017 in a trade-deadline deal, he pitched for the North Siders through 2020.