Cubs blanked by Twins |
CHICAGO - The 2024 MLB season hasn't gone according to play for Chicago Cubs (55-60) right-hander Kyle Hendricks, as this has been by far the worst season of his career. Although there have been countless struggles, you have the occasional outing where he comes out and gives you a vintage Hendricks performance on the hill.
Monday night at Wrigley Field saw one of those performances as Hendricks got back to looking like the Hendricks of old against the Minnesota Twins (63-48). Despite striking out five and allowing two runs in six innings of work, the Cubs offense was held to four hits in a 3-0 loss to the Twins. Kyle Hendricks notches a quality start. pic.twitter.com/rH7B0GRKCs Rookie right-hander David Festa entered the game with an ERA north of six and then tossed one of the best games of his young career. Fester only lasted five innings, but with two hits allowed and nine strikeouts, they were a dominating five innings. The Cubs struck out 14 times in the game compared to just two walks. Throw in just four hits, and it will be hard to win games as the Twins did what they needed to do to win. You couldn't have asked for a much better start from Hendricks, who struck out the side in the first to set the tone while also stranding a runner in each of the first two innings. Kyle Hendricks, 3Ks in the 1st. pic.twitter.com/PCc8M17wEL It wasn't until the third that the Twins finally got to him, as a one-out walk from Willi Castro set the Twins' offense up before he advanced to third on the Trevor Larnach single. Royce Lewis managed to drive home the game's first run on a sacrifice fly, but with Matt Wallner being gifted a double after Pete Crow-Armstrong and Mike Tauchman lost the ball in the lights, the Twins were on the verge of opening up a 2-0 lead. That was until the Cubs executed a perfect relay to home plate as Dansby Swanson's throw nailed Larnach for the third out to keep things 1-0. The Cubs save a run after a defensive miscue in the outfield. pic.twitter.com/Q19LpuTxwJ After retiring the first six hitters he faced and making it look easy in the process, the Cubs put a baserunner on to start the third, with Swanson connecting for a leadoff single. Swanson would eventually move to second on an Ian Happ walk, only to have the Michael Busch strikeout end the threat. Busch finished the game with four punchouts. Still holding their 1-0 lead in the fifth, Manuel Margot delivered what is known as a Wrigley Field homer as he reached for a Hendricks pitch off the corner and got just enough of it to drive it over the left field fence to extend the Twins lead to 2-0. Given how Festa was pitching through four, you had to think two runs would be enough, but the Cubs wouldn't go down without a fight. Perhaps a two-out double from Crow-Armstrong would be just what the doctor ordered, as the speedster was in scoring position. A Miguel Amaya followed that double walk to put the Cubs in the same situation they were in during the third, only to come up empty again. In what was becoming a battle of the bullpens by the time the sixth and seventh innings rolled around, runs would be challenging to come by as these had been two of the better bullpens over the past month. From Caleb Thielbar striking out the side in the sixth to Jhoan Duran displaying his lethal triple-digit stuff in the eighth, the Cubs offense was searching for answers. A two-out double from Ian Happ off of Duran had the Cubs in business to grab a run, only to have Busch go down on strikes again. Looking to keep things right where they were, the Cubs used a pair of arms out of the pen, with Jorge Lopez tossing a scoreless seventh before handing things off to Nate Pearson the rest of the way. Pearson started his outing with a scoreless eighth, but after allowing a leadoff double to Wallner to begin the ninth, Minnesota was back in business and looking to add on. That double was followed up by a Max Kepler single, and once again, the Twins had runners on the corners and no outs. With this being one of the best offenses in baseball, holding them to two runs through eight innings has to be considered a missed opportunity, as these are the games you have to win. Minnesota managed to add on off a double play ball in that ninth inning, handing the ball to Griffin Jax with a 3-0 lead and three outs to go. Needing at least two baserunners to reach base and help make things interesting, Cody Bellinger delivered a one-out single, but that was it, as the Twins took game one from the Cubs 3-0. “Kyle pitched well, just not enough offense tonight.” Patrick Wisdom never had an Italian beef before ...@ColeWright made sure that changed today 👀 pic.twitter.com/8s3HKpaZlA
Craig Counsell following tonight’s loss. pic.twitter.com/6c2xkYnYRs
