It looks like the Chicago Cubs have their ace in Kyle Hendricks

What stands out after the Chicago Cubs swept the St. Louis Cardinals one week after suffering the same fate? The masterful work of hurler Kyle Hendricks.

In each of the first three series matchups between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, a sweep took place. First, Chicago swept the Redbirds at Wrigley Field in early May.

Then, the Cubs fell flat at Busch Stadium a week back – dropping all three to close out a brutal road trip. But Chicago got their revenge over the weekend, closing out another sweep behind another sterling outing from right-hander Kyle Hendricks.

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The 2016 Major League earned run average leader is near-unbeatable at Wrigley Field at this point. Hendricks boasts a 1.65 ERA this year at home in seven starts, but he credited his catcher, Willson Contreras, in Sunday’s effort.

"“He could feel what the hitters were doing better than I could today,” Hendricks told MLB.com. “So I started relying on him. He kind of had more energy and he, just mentally, got me to be more aggressive and more into it.”"

The Chicago battery worked well all night, going seven strong innings and allowing just one run. St. Louis stranded nine base runners in the contest and failed to draw a single walk against Hendricks, who threw 68 of his 98 pitches for strikes.

Sunday’s start not only closed out the sweep of the rival Cardinals but propelled the Cubs back into first place (by percentage points) over the Milwaukee Brewers. Given the back-and-forth we’ve seen between these three teams this year, I’d expect this will go on right till the last days of the summer – similar to what we saw in 2018.

And, perhaps for the first time, Hendricks is the guy I want with the ball over anyone else in this rotation.

Since coming to Chicago, grizzled veteran Jon Lester has been that guy. In the game’s biggest moments, he always seems to come up clutch. In 68 career outings in September and October, Lester carries a 2.90 earned run average into 2019 – along with his trio of World Series rings. And make no mistake, he’s still that same guy. But Hendricks has finally taken the long-awaited step as this team’s ‘stopper’.

You could make the argument that Hendricks was that guy back in 2016. But the Cubs still had Jake Arrieta alongside Lester – with the former coming off his historic 2015 campaign and Lester finishing as the runner-up in National League Cy Young voting. Hendricks finished third in NL voting but was always somehow overshadowed by his two teammates.

This season, though, it’s been different. Hendricks leads all Cubs starters with a 3.00 ERA on the year. Giving him the ball at Wrigley Field is as close to a guaranteed win as is possible – something you can’t say for any other hurler on this ball club – at least not now.

Chicago locked up Hendricks with a four-year extension this spring – a relative bargain given his consistency since joining the Cubs’ big league rotation. But seeing how he dominated throughout the month of May and shut down the Cardinals on the national stage Sunday night at the Friendly Confines, I think we can safely say: Kyle Hendricks, ace, has arrived.