Heyward Connects for First Home Run, Hendricks Outdueled

It was a pitcher’s duel from the very start in this one, with Kyle Hendricks and Brewers’ pitcher, Chase Anderson, both cruising along seemingly un-hittable. The lone hit through three innings was charged to Hendricks on a tough play and throw by Addison Russell that was off-target but still charged as a hit. That was until the fourth inning, when Hendricks delivered a 2-2 pitch to Jonathan Lucroy who deposited it over the center field wall.

The score remained close until the bottom of the sixth inning. Hendricks was on his third time through the Brewers’ order and things started to fall apart for Kyle. A walk, two singles and a double and the Brewers had tacked on three more runs – Hendricks was done for the night after only 82 pitches.

Chase Anderson, on the other hand, was having no problem retiring Cubs’ batters. In fact, he brought a no-hitter into the eighth inning that was broken up by none other than steady Ben Zobrist (that’s boring as a nickname but so true) who drove a line drive over the center fielder’s head with no outs and suddenly the Cubs had something, anything, going. They were unable to convert that lead-off double into a run and time was all but run out.

Move forward to the bottom of the ninth, with Chase Anderson still in the game, Jason Heyward stepped to the plate and, with two outs and an 0-2 count, delivered his first home run of the year over the right center field wall. Next up, Kris Bryant, who promptly pounded a home run into the left field bleachers. Suddenly, the Cubs were getting some hits and even knocked Anderson out of the game. Closer Jeremy Jeffress came on and struck out Anthony Rizzo and that was the game.

Cubs fall to a dominant pitching performance by the score of 4-2 (box score).

Stats that mattered

• Jason Heyward was 1-for-4 and that one was his first home run of the year. We’ll see more of that soon, I’m sure.
• Chase Anderson gave up some line drives early but settled down to dominate – 8.2IP, 2R, 3H, 1BB, 6Ks
• Hendricks was great early but fell off his third time through the order – 5.1IP, 4R, 5H, 2BB, 6Ks

Bottom line

The Cubs offense started this game hitting the ball hard but all of those hits were right at a Brewers defender. Those defensive plays early were enough to stop them in their tracks and allowed Chase Anderson to get into a rhythm. Kyle Hendricks looked great early but it seemed like the home run he allowed to Lucroy got to him because he was never the same after that, eventually getting pulled the very next inning.

Next up

The Cubs will look to bounce back on Wednesday with John Lackey on the mound. Game time is 7:10 PM CDT.