SAN FRANCISCO — On the eve of hitting 10 years of big-league service time, Kyle Hendricks’ confidence in his curveball was at a career high.
The pitch has been a focal point since spring training, but it hadn’t felt right when Hendricks tried to throw it early in the season, lacking the movement needed to be effective. A grip change and continuing to work on it in side sessions led to Hendricks incorporating it more in games, particularly during the three-week stretch he pitched in relief.
“It came with everything else,” Hendricks said. “When I started getting on top of the baseball, get down in the zone again, that kind of came with it. I was on top of my curveball, it got sharper, wasn’t popping out of my hand so once that followed, now the rest came.”
Those adjustments contributed to his first quality start of the season Tuesday night at Oracle Park as Hendricks threw the second-most curveballs of his career to help limit the San Francisco Giants to two runs in seven innings. Hendricks’ performance wasn’t enough, however, as the offense managed just one run and four hits in a 5-1 loss.
The Cubs dropped to a season-worst six games under .500 (37-43) and have lost 14 of their last 18 road games.
“Kyle got himself really going again and that’s really important, he pitched really, really well,” manager Craig Counsell said. “We had three at-bats with runners in scoring position, we didn’t have an extra-base hit so you’re not going to have a big night offensively with numbers like that.”
In his last five outings (two starts), Hendricks has given up only three runs over 21 1/3 innings for a 1.27 ERA. Beyond the curveball usage lately, Hendricks pointed to his time in the bullpen for helping him get better. He changed his pre-outing routine in that role and has continued to use the shorter bullpen-type warmup before his last two starts.
Hendricks has tripled his curveball usage this year compared to 2023, and he again credited catcher Miguel Amaya for knowing when to call the pitch to make him less predictable to hitters. Counsell described it as another weapon, adding it’s a credit to Hendricks at this point in his career for a new approach that’s been a game-changer in his starts.
“He’s calling it, it’s making me feel confident about it,” Hendricks said of Amaya. “Definitely the most confidence I’ve had my curveball in my career so I can see just how it’s changing the game for me and keeping them off balance more, getting back to just what I was doing. It might be a little different for me, but I can go back to my strengths when I need it.”
During his start Tuesday, 26 of his 100 pitches thrown were curveballs, resulting in five whiffs, four called strikes and two ground outs on the only two curveballs the Giants put in play.
“It makes me happy because he’s having success,” Amaya said. “He’s been making his adjustments, and it feels pretty cool to have him have that confidence in me — he’s given me the confidence to keep calling those pitches.”
Hendricks’ great start represented yet another missed opportunity for the Cubs to try to harness some momentum as July looms. They hold last place in the division while sitting four games back of the final wild-card spot in the National League. The Cubs’ failure to capitalize on their starting pitchers’ consistency already feels like a missed opportunity, one the organization will lament if they miss the playoffs again.
Hendricks has been part of rebuilding teams and a World Series winner in his decade on the Cubs. He understands what it takes to be a winning team. Despite their current shortcomings, Hendricks fully expects it’s only a matter of time for things to start going the Cubs’ way and, in turn, their struggles and adversity will help them by the end of the season.
“Our expectations are always very high,” Hendricks said. “And so where we’re at right now, I mean, we’re still not that far out of it, just how crazy the year it’s kind of been in the National League and the wild card especially. So we know where we’re at. It’s been a tough year, it’s been a grind. Our expectations are to be better of course. I’m proud of all the guys coming in and getting after it, putting in the work.
“There’s no giving up at all from this group.”
