CINCINNATI — It was just last fall that Kyle Hendricks was taking the ball in the opener of an October series for the Cubs. No fan of the North Siders needs reminding that he was also tasked with starting Game 7 of the World Series five years ago.
All this losing by the Cubs is a foreign experience for Hendricks, who takes pride in being a stopper and a leader for Chicago’s rotation, and wants the winning culture of recent seasons to continue. When Hendricks took the mound for Tuesday’s 2-1 win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park, it is a safe bet that the last thing on his mind was Draft position next summer.
“My focus stays the same,” Hendricks said.
Hendricks accomplished the task at hand: halting the Cubs’ season-high 12-game losing streak. It marked just the 11th win in the past 47 games for the Cubs, who have five victories in that span with Hendricks on the hill.
The losing streak was tied for the third-longest drought in team history, trailing only three 13-game losing streaks (1944, ‘82 and ‘85) and the ’97 Cubs team that began the season 0-14.
When Chicago’s players headed into the visitors’ clubhouse on Tuesday night, they did so with their first “W” since Aug. 4. Hendricks also won his Major League-leading 14th game.
“That felt really good,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “Guys played a great ballgame — a clean ballgame. We got great pitching. Timely hitting.”
In terms of the latter, Frank Schwindel — manning first base now with former core star Anthony Rizzo traded to the Yankees — delivered an RBI double and upped his average to .382 in his brief stay with the Cubs. Ian Happ, who is trying to keep a footing in the 2022 Opening Day picture, launched a solo homer off Reds righty Vladimir Gutierrez.
That was enough for Hendricks.
“Hendricks is a good pitcher, man,” Reds outfielder Nick Castellanos said. “There’s no way around it, especially when he’s on and has command of his changeup.”
Coming off arguably the worst start of his career, Hendricks limited the Reds to a solo home run off Castellanos’ bat over six innings. The right-hander scattered three hits, struck out three and limited the potential damage of three walks issued.
It was a more characteristic effort from Hendricks, who yielded a career-high nine runs one outing ago against the Brewers. That meltdown came within one of the longest losing streaks in club annals. Over the dozen-game skid, Cubs pitchers combined for an 8.37 ERA.
“It was just a good feeling in the clubhouse, obviously,” Hendricks said, “with what we’ve been going through lately, just to finally see a result.”
Part of what the Cubs have been going through has been a stripping down of a roster that was in first place on June 24 after a combined no-hitter against the Dodgers. That preceded the first 11-game losing streak of this season and led to the furious series of franchise-altering subtractions at the Trade Deadline.
Without the ability to fortify the MLB group in-season, the Cubs have been testing out a group of journeymen who might figure into the 2022 picture. Another top priority for the final two months is seeing what the pitching foundation looks like among a group of young starters and bullpen arms.
Hendricks, who is under contract for two more seasons with an option for 2024, is trying to do his part to help the learning curve.
“[That’s] super important, man,” Hendricks said. “I try and do my part the days I’m not pitching — just talk baseball, talk pitching with everybody. But we’re all in it together, man. We’re all just trying to get better together — I’m a part of that as well.”
And part of that is showing that winning remains Hendricks’ priority.
Hendricks’ effort against the Reds — a team trying to chase down a National League Wild Card seed, at a minimum — marked the righty’s 18th quality start of the season. Prior to his previous start, he also enjoyed a 16-start unbeaten streak in which he went 11-0 with a 2.79 ERA.
Even as the losses started piling up for the Cubs, Hendricks kept his focus on winning.
“Kyle giving us the start he did was huge,” Ross said. “It starts with your starting pitching.”
Ross might as well have been talking about the path to righting the ship in 2022 and beyond, too. In a perfect world, the manager said in a recent chat that the Cubs could pair another top-tier starter with Hendricks and then complement that with the youthful arms being developed now.
“Pitching’s definitely going to help translate to wins,” Ross said.
