Kyle Hendricks leads Chicago Cubs to a much-needed victory

The Chicago Cubs needed a stopper on Wednesday night and got it in the form of a dominant outing from soft-tossing right-hander Kyle Hendricks.

Looking to avoid suffering their first series sweep since April 1-4, the Chicago Cubs knew they’d need a lot from Kyle Hendricks. The starting rotation has been mired in a brutal stretch, with usually dependable guys like Jon Lester and Cole Hamels struggling in a big way.

After getting short outings from Lester and Hamels in the first two games, the bullpen looked to be stretched thinner than Joe Maddon would like, almost necessitating Hendricks to step up in a big way. And, boy, did he ever.

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Hendricks turned in eight innings of one-run ball, chalking up his success to a strong mental approach and repeated execution all game long.

"“Today was the best I’ve felt mentally,” Hendricks told MLB.com. “Just keep it simple. Make good pitches. Today, I really did that. There were only four pitches I didn’t execute.”"

According to MLB.com, Hendricks turned in a sterling 1.81 ERA in six May starts – hopefully setting the tone for the rest of the year. This stands out more given the fact he inked a four-year contract extension this winter. Clearly, Chicago looks at Hendricks as the anchor in the rotation long-term and, to this point, there’s little doubt why that’s the case.

With the Cubs, the Dartmouth graduate has accumulated a 3.07 earned run average in 143 career starts and a lone relief appearance. He’s accomplished this without the ability to overpower hitters, instead relying on mixing his pitches and hitting his spots night in and night out.

On Wednesday, his intellect took center stage in Houston – and didn’t go unnoticed by Astros manager A.J. Hinch, who has his own fair share of elite hurlers on his own squad.

"“I haven’t seen if he made any mistakes, but there weren’t many of them. Watching by the contact and disruption of timing, he’s just really good. We didn’t have very many guys who had at-bats against him. You kind of have to pick fastball, changeup, and then he throws a couple of slow breaking balls. He just never, never gives in. His execution on the corners, off the corners, inside, up, kind of picture-perfect art of pitching by him.”"

Aside from Hendricks’ dominant outing, the Cubs’ offense was once again bolstered by the long-ball. A first-inning solo shot from Kyle Schwarber got things rolling and then Kris Bryant returned to the lineup, blasting a solo homer of his own – a towering drive to center field that gave Chicago a 2-0 advantage.

With an off-day on Thursday, the Cubs will head into the final day of May with a team-record 51 blasts, including five different players (Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, Willson Contreras, Schwarber, Bryant) with at least 10 already this year.

The story of this one was simple: the Chicago Cubs needed the best Kyle Hendricks had to offer. He gave them just that and the offense did just enough to come away with a badly-needed win and preserve the club’s slim lead in the National League Central. Now, we can head into a day off before opening up a weekend set against the rival St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.