Sunday was Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks’ best start of the season.
It was still far from good enough.
Hendricks went four innings and allowed four runs in a 6-3 loss to the lowly Marlins, meaning the Cubs had to settle for a split of the four-game series. He struck out five and walked none.
In the second, Jesus Sanchez hit a 460-foot home run against Hendricks that cleared the batter’s eye in center field. Then the Marlins scored three more times in the fourth, jumping on Hendricks’ first pitch in three consecutive at-bats for singles.
Manager Craig Counsell saw some pluses, but it still amounted to what has become a familiar story for Hendricks.
‘‘Some good steps, some positive steps, some good innings, for sure — some kind of ‘took control of the inning’ type of innings,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘But we need better results, frankly.’’
The game seemed set up for Hendricks to turn his season around. He always has been a better pitcher at home, and the Marlins started the day five games behind the fourth-place team in their division. The lineup featured no hitters who started the day hitting higher than .275, and three were below .200.
But Hendricks was gone to start the fifth without getting a third chance at the lineup. And if it comes time to decide whether he will continue getting chances in the rotation, his past accomplishments and accolades only will go so far.
He’s the last 2016 World Series champion left on the team and one of the most respected figures in the clubhouse, but those truths won’t help Hendricks get batters out in 2024.
‘‘You have to look at it as, what are the current needs of the Cubs right now?’’ Counsell said. ‘‘That’s how we have to look at it. That’s the right way to look at it, then work as hard as we can to get Kyle rolling at the same time.’’
Déjà vu all over again
This isn’t the first time Hendricks has struggled in the first month of a season. In 2022, he had a 5.47 ERA in five March/April starts. A year earlier, he had a 7.54 ERA in March/April.
The Cubs hope Hendricks recovers again, though this March/April has been even more difficult. Sanchez’s homer, which left his bat at 113.6 mph, was the eighth Hendricks has given up in only 21 innings. When the fourth inning rolled around, the Marlins seemed to have figured him out.
On the bright side, Hendricks lowered his ERA from 12.71 to 12.00. He also struck out the side in the third and opened the game with an uneventful first.
‘‘You’ve got to take the positives again. Progress,’’ Hendricks said. ‘‘Just got beat, like, five pitches in a row there [in the fourth]. First-pitch hunting, mostly fastballs there. But executed a lot, mentally more aggressive on the glove. Just put us in a bad spot again. We had to win that game, take that series there.’’
Hendricks and the Cubs will keep looking for the fixes. They can’t use injury as a potential explanation because he’s healthy, so they hope his pedigree and experience help him recover from a challenging start.
‘‘We always tell the story after the player gets better of how we figured it out; that’s generally what we do,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘We’re searching, we’re searching, and Kyle’s doing the same thing. We’re certainly implementing some of those suggestions, then some of those things we’re trying. And those are things you hope will make us better.’’
