Kyle Hendricks has had a tremendous season on the mound for the Chicago Cubs and Monday night’s performance was his best yet.
Hendricks came three outs shy of pitching a no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals, giving up a solo home run to Jeremy Hazelbaker to lead off the bottom of the ninth.
That was the end of Hendricks’ night, leaving to a rousing ovation from the many Cubs fans at Busch Stadium, and Aroldis Chapman came in to pick up the save in a 4-1 win. But even if Hendricks didn’t walk away with a no-hitter, or even a shutout, he absolutely brought more attention to his excellent year.
Who is the National League leader in ERA among qualified starters? It’s not Madison Bumgarner or Max Scherzer or Jose Fernandez. It’s Hendricks, and that ERA is down to 2.03 after this one.
How has he done it? Hendricks has given up three earned runs or fewer in 20 consecutive starts and two runs or fewer in seven straight starts.
Those are the kind of numbers that will put a pitcher in the Cy Young award conversation. And if anyone wasn’t taking Hendricks’ candidacy seriously yet, he just went out and showed why he deserves to be in the mix with a gem.
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