Kyle Hendricks goes the distance as Chicago Cubs win 4-1

The Sun was out and Wrigley Field was jam-packed with excited fans on both ends of the fence. Yesterday, the Cubs and Phillies went through a couple of rain delays but the home team was still able to stay on top. Today, a young right-hander pitched his second career complete game.

Before we get to this afternoon’s recap, Chicago Cubs’ veteran catcher David Ross launched his 100th career home run in yesterday’s 6-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies (26-23) in Game 1 of this weekend series.

It was a three-run shot that bounced its way onto Waveland Avenue and was later returned to Ross who expressed his appreciation soon after the ball was returned to him. He’s still long ways away from recording his 1,000th career hit.

Today’s starter, Kyle Hendricks, was absolutely lights out for the Chicago Cubs who improved to 33-14 on the year following the 4-1 win.

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Hendricks (3-4, 2.93 ERA) held the Phillies to one earned run on five hits, zero walks, and seven strikeouts through all nine innings to wrap his second career complete game. His very first was a year ago May 21.

Not only did he perform well on the mound but he got himself a hit off Phillies starter, Jerad Eickhoff in the home half of the second. He went 1-for-3 in the afternoon.

Center fielder and lead-off man, Dexter Fowler, launched his sixth home run of the season to get things started for the Cubbies in the very first inning of the ballgame. Second baseman Ben Zobrist later followed that up with an RBI double, making it a quick 2-0 lead for Hendricks.

Zobrist picked up his 10th double of the year in the first inning of yesterday’s game and came around to score on an RBI double off the bat of Jorge Soler. There’s no doubt that Ben or Zorilla is the hottest hitter in both the National and American League.

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Now back to the bottom half of the second inning. Right fielder Jason Heyward came through with his eighth double of the year, driving in shortstop Addison Russell who was being followed by Kyle Hendricks.

Hendricks was thrown out at the plate by shortstop and cut-off man Freddy Galvis who made the relay throw to Cameron Rupp for the third out of the frame.

Galvis scored the only Phillies run by stealing home when Ryan Howard struck out swinging in the ninth. Galvis reached safely when Zobrist and Heyward were unable to figure out who would be the man to reel in a routine fly-ball out in shallow right-field.

Nonetheless, Chicago extended their winning streak to four games and will have the opportunity to complete the three-game sweep when John Lackey squares off against Vince Velasquez at 1:20 p.m. central time.