The Chicago Cubs lost 6-1 against the Philadelphia Phillies, who had just been swept by the San Francisco Giants, but every fan will take that loss instead of what Joe Maddon feared early on.
Kyle Hendricks had his worst start of the season, giving up five runs in five innings, walking three and allowing a home run. The third inning was most concerning, as Hendricks gave up three runs and that included two walks. We're talking about a pitcher who has incredible command of his pitches, walking two batters, the second of which coming with the bases loaded.
Hendricks looked so off that Maddon at one point thought his starting pitcher was hurt.
Here's the pitch that sent Cubs twitter into a slight panic last night.
Maddon, along with the Cubs trainer, came out to have a chat with Hendricks, but luckily it was simply an off night for him. Again, as a Cubs fan you'll be more than happy to just see Hendricks struggle in an early June start than see him get hurt and have him be on the DL. That happened last year and boy was it a disaster, as the Cubs rotation was pelted with injuries throughout the 2017 season. The team especially struggled in the middle of the season, when Hendricks missed about seven weeks from June 4-July 23. Yu Darvish is already on the DL right now and although Mike Montgomery has done a great job filling in, the Cubs don't need another one of their starters going down for any time period. So, we'll just chalk up Tuesday's game as a stinker for Hendricks. Despite the bad start, Hendricks still has a 3.59 ERA and 1.10 WHIP this season.
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