Chicago Cubs: Who’s hot, who’s not after strong homestand

Chicago Cubs: Two starting pitchers on opposite ends of the spectrum

I don’t think you can really say enough about just how good Kyle Hendricks pitched in his two starts over the home-stand. In his two starts, the right-hander tossed 17 innings and didn’t allow a single earned run to score. He struck out 10 batters and didn’t allow a single free pass and only surrendered one extra-base hit. He was simply untouchable and in complete control from start to finish.

In his first start, the professor threw a magical 81-pitch complete game shutout against the Cardinals. It was a start very reminiscent of former Cubs pitcher, Greg Maddux. Of his 81 pitches thrown, 63 of them were strikes. He allowed just four hits, all of which were harmless singles in what was easily his best performance of the season.

Hendricks followed that up with another dominating performance against the Marlins. He threw eight more innings, in which one run scored due to Hendricks’ own throwing error in the first inning. Aside from his blemish in the first inning, Hendricks pitched lights out the rest of the way, striking out seven and allowing just five hits.

In my opinion, Hendricks should have thrown his second complete game in as many starts but Joe Maddon elected to pull him after the eighth inning. Hendricks and thrown 96 pitches but also just retired the side in order. Maddon should have at least let him start the ninth inning and if he ran into any trouble, then go get him.

While Hendricks was in complete control, Yu Darvish was anything but. He combined to pitch eight innings in his two starts while walking a total of 11 batters. He walked five against the Cardinals and walked six against the Marlins. He simply did not look sharp as he posted a 6.75 ERA.

He was hit around much more in his first start against the Cardinals, as he allowed five earned runs. He surrendered six hits, four of which went four extra bases, including a solo home run. He started the fourth inning but following back-to-back walks, he was pulled from the game. If not for Taylor Davis’ clutch grand slam, Darvish and the Cubs likely would have lost the game.

Darvish’s next start against the Marlins was much different, but it still wasn’t a good one. He only surrendered one hit and stuck out seven batters but his six walks really caught up to him. He struggled to throw the ball over the plate as he only threw 50 of his 97 pitches for strikes. Maddon pinch hit for him in the bottom of the fourth inning and elected to have reliever Mike Montgomery pitch the last five innings for the Cubs.