Game Recap: Cubs fend off Kyle Hendricks, secure series sweep |
Dustin Riese
· · 3 hours ago
ANAHEIM - You couldn't have asked for a better start to this nine-game road trip, as this could be the single biggest road trip of the season for the Chicago Cubs (76-55). Already with a series victory entering Sunday's game against the Anaheim Angels (61-69), the Cubs faced off against a former Franchise legend in Kyle Hendricks with a chance to finish off the sweep.
Initially drafted by the Texas Rangers, Hendricks was traded to the Cubs during the 2014 season, and the rest is history as The Professor as he was known in Chicago went on to spend the next 10 years of his professional career becoming a franchise legend in the process. Seeing him in another uniform is strange enough, but seeing him face off against the team that traded for him was even stranger as the Cubs held off a late-game surge from the Angels to complete the three-game sweep 4-3. With the Brewers losing two of three over the weekend to the Giants, who the Cubs are gearing up to play on Tuesday, Chicago gained two games in the standings and is now five games back of the NL Central leaders. As good as Hendricks was most of his Cubs career, the past few seasons have been a struggle for him, including this one. The right-hander held the Cubs offense in check most of the day, but still only managed to give the Angels 4 1/3 innings, allowing four runs and striking out two. That alone was too much for the Angels' offense to overcome as veteran right-hander Jameson Taillon delivered his second straight quality outing since returning from the IL. Taillon may not have gone as deep as the Cubs would've liked him to go, giving Craig Counsell five innings, but with a one-run allowed and a rested pen, the Cubs were able to overcome that. When you look back at this series as a whole, it was the pitching that stood out for the Cubs as they allowed just six runs over the three games. Four of those six runs came on four solo homers, including a first-inning homer from Taylor Ward to put the Angels on top for the first time all series, 1-0. For Ward, he has been the primary offensive option for the Angels, as this was his career-best 30th homer. With Hendricks keeping the Cubs offense at bay early in the game, that 1-0 score would hold until the third when Chicago finally started to get some better looks at him. Matt Shaw continued his impressive second half of the season with a one-out double as the Cubs' offense was set up in a big spot. Two batters later, it was Kyle Tucker cashing in with a game-tying RBI single as he had a massive series with three homers and eight RBIs this weekend. One inning later, it was another two-out rally by the Cubs with Ian Happ working a walk before racing home on a Nico Hoerner double to put the Cubs on top for good, 2-1. It was in the fifth when the Cubs began to put things away, and that all started with a one-out single from Michael Busch. Following a Tucker walk and a Seiya Suzuki single, it was the Cubs loading the bases that proved to be the end of the line for Hendricks, who was promptly lifted for another former Cub in Andrew Chafin. Two hitters into his outing, and it was the Cubs extending their lead to 4-1 with Pete Crow-Armstrong adding a sacrifice fly ahead of a Carson Kelly single. Chafin managed to get through the rest of the inning without further damage, but with the Cubs adding two more runs, Anaheim was going to have their work cut out for them late, as the Cubs' bullpen was set to take over in the sixth. Chicago had a chance to tack on more damage in the sixth with singles from Hoerner and Shaw starting things off, only to have a Tucker walk load the bases. Unfortunately for the Cubs, they were unable to get the big hit as Chase Silseth delivered an inning-ending groundout from Suzuki to get the job done. As good as Andrew Kittredge has been since joining the Cubs, he has had his off-and-on rough outings, and Sunday was another one of those outings. Two batters after Zach Neto led the inning off with a single, it was the Ward double driving him in and making this a 4-2 game. Ward managed to reach third on a Jo Adell groundout before coming home on an error to pull the Angels within 4-3 before Kittredge closed out the sixth. Still leading by that score in the late innings, it was time for the Cubs' big arms to take over as Caleb Thielbar, Brad Keller, and Daniel Palencia were called on to deliver the final nine outs. The first six of those nine outs came relatively easily, with only one baserunner coming in the seventh and eighth innings, but once again, it was a shaky ninth inning from Palencia that had the Cubs on the verge of heartbreak. Not only did Luis Rengifo start things off with a single, but with Palencia uncorking a one-out walk, the tying run was in scoring position with the pressure mounting on Palencia. Sometimes pressure is a good thing, and Palencia thrives under pressure as he bounced back to strikeout the next two hitters to close things out, giving the Cubs a 4-3 victory.
