ST. LOUIS — All it took to get Kyle Hendricks out of a long slump for the Cubs was to make a start against the Cardinals.
Hendricks came into his start on Friday night at Busch Stadium with a 1-7 record and an 8.82 ERA in 11 starts this season – none of which were against St. Louis.
Not surprisingly, considering Hendricks’ career performance against the Cardinals, he then went out and threw seven shutout innings to guide the Cubs to the win in the opening game of the four-game series.
The victory improved Hendricks’ career record to 14-4 against the Cardinals while lowering his ERA over those 179 innings to 2.51.
The loss was the third in a row for the Cardinals, their longest streak since they lost seven consecutive games in early May.
Here is how Friday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals had five hits off Hendricks, all singles, and did not get a runner to second base until after he left the game, doing so with one out in the ninth inning … Two walks finally gave allowed them to get a runner to second, and Paul Goldschmidt’s single produced their only run of the night … Another walk, to Nolan Arenado, allowed them to load the bases and get the tying run to the plate with two outs in the ninth but the game ended when Lars Nootbaar was called out on strikes.
On the mound: Sonny Gray allowed three runs over seven innings. The Cubs’ sixth to ninth place hitters were a combined 6-of-11 off Gray with two runs scored … John King allowed two runners he inherited from Chris Roycroft to score in the eighth to increase the Cubs lead to 5-0. King has allowed 14 of 21 inherited runners to score this season.
Key stat: Hendricks only other appearance against the Cardinals this season was 4 1/3 scoreless innings in a relief outing on June 14. In four games since 2022, the Cardinals have scored two runs off Hendrick in 25 2/3 innings.
Worth noting: Before the game the Cardinals activated Ivan Herrera from the injured list and optioned him to Memphis, where he had been on a rehab assignment … Manager Oli Marmol said the team did not have the roster flexibility to add Herrera as a third catcher and wanted to keep Pedro Pages as the backup to Willson Contreras … At Springfield on Friday night, Chandler Redmond hit his 60th career home run for the Double A team, breaking a tie with Xavier Scruggs for the most in franchise history … Tommy Edman was the DH for Springfield and was 0-of-3 with a walk.
Looking ahead: The Cardinals and Cubs will play a day-night doubleheader on Saturday, making up a game rained out in May. Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson are scheduled to start for the Cardinals.