Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks is not having a year to remember, but he hopes to get on track as Chicago looks to extend its winning streak to five as it opens a three-game series with the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on Friday afternoon.
Hendricks, who signed a four-year contract extension this spring, enters May with a dismal 1-4 record and 5.33 ERA despite pitching seven shutout innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 19.
“I know where I’m at,” Hendricks told the Chicago Tribune. “I know how I feel, and I’ll be there in the end. But I got to start getting better.”
The 29-year-old right-hander allowed a career-high-tying seven runs and 10 hits his last time out in an 8-3 loss at Arizona on April 26, the second time in five starts that he gave up that many hits (10 at Atlanta on April 1). That’s not typical for Hendricks, who came into the season allowing 10 hits or more just twice in his career (11 at Minnesota in 2015 and 10 at Detroit in 2018).
“He just wasn’t as sharp as he normally is,” manager Joe Maddon said after the April 26 loss to the Diamondbacks. “Normally he makes a lot of pitches that hitters take that are called strikes that are well-placed. He didn’t have that. His changeup didn’t have that thing at the end. It was of those things.”
Hendricks has pitched more than five innings only once all season, but his two best performances came at home, just where he will be Friday. And Hendricks is 5-2 with a 3.38 ERA in 14 career starts against the Cardinals, including a 3-0 mark with a 3.51 ERA in four outings last season.
Hendricks will be opposed by Cardinals right-hander Jack Flaherty, who is coming off his best outing of the season.
Flaherty (3-1, 4.06 ERA) threw seven shutout innings in a 5-2 win against the visiting Cincinnati Reds on Sunday, allowing four hits, striking out four and walking one on 89 pitches.
“I thought a couple of starts ago, he had taken that next step,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said after the win against the Reds. “The next step being that efficiency.”
Flaherty has made four appearances against the Cubs in his career, including three starts, and is 1-1 with a 3.29 ERA.
Flaherty has allowed seven home runs in seven games (six starts) this season, but six of those came in his three appearances against the Milwaukee Brewers, who sit second in the majors with 59 home runs.
The Cubs have hit 44 home runs, which ranks ninth in the majors.
“You can try to pitch a different game, knowing that guys are trying to hit home runs, but you’ve still got to try to make the guys put the ball in play,” Flaherty said. “You can’t try to strike everybody out. The more you do that, the more you run into deep counts and the more you’re just inviting bad things to happen.”