Sunday was Kyle Hendricks’ best start of the year.
It still wasn’t too good.
Hendricks went four innings and allowed four runs in the Cubs’ 6-3 loss to the lowly Marlins to split the four-game series. In the second, Jesus Sanchez hit a 460-foot home run off Hendricks that landed over the center field batter’s eye. Then in the fourth, Miami scored three more times.
Hendricks was gone to start the fifth without getting a third chance at the Miami lineup. And if it comes time to decide whether Hendricks will continue getting chances in the rotation, his past accomplishments will only go so far.
“You have to look at it as, what are the current needs of the Cubs right now?” manager Craig Counsell said before the game. “That’s how we have to look at it. That’s the right way to look at it, and then work as hard as we can to get Kyle rolling at the same time.”
This isn’t the first time Hendricks has struggled in the opening month of the season. In 2022, he had a 5.47 ERA in five March/April starts. A year earlier, Hendricks had a 7.54 ERA in March/April.
The Cubs hope Hendricks recovers again from a tough start, though this March/April has been even more difficult. Sanchez’s homer, which left his bat at 113 mph, was the eighth Hendricks has given up through just 21 innings. By the fourth, the Marlins seemed to have figured out Hendricks, swinging aggressively to get four hits.
By allowing four runs in four innings, Hendricks did lower his ERA, but it went from 12.71 to 12.00.
Adding to the mystery is that this is Hendricks, the last remaining member of the 2016 World Series and someone who’s earned plenty of respect around the Cubs. At least he showed some glimpses Sunday, striking out the side in the third.
“I just think it feels harder to explain, to figure out, sometimes, when a guy’s been good for this long,” Counsell said. “That’s when it’s a little bit harder to figure out. The puzzle seems a little harder. I don’t know about heavier. I understand what Kyle’s meant to this organization. Most of all, I respect his track record of what he’s accomplished.”
Hendricks and the Cubs will keep looking for the fixes. They can’t use any injury as a crutch – he’s healthy – so they hope the answer is out there.
“We always tell the story after the player gets better of how we figured it out. That’s generally what we do,” Counsell said. “We’re searching, we’re searching, searching and Kyle’s doing the same thing. We’re certainly implementing some of those suggestions and then some of those things we’re trying and those are things you hope will make us better.”
