Hendricks Shines for Cubs in Season Opener
The Chicago Cubs played their first game of the long-awaited 2020 season Friday night, nearly four months after the campaign was originally scheduled to begin. Their first opponents of the shortened season were their rivals to the north in the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Cubs wasted no time getting a leg up on their division foe.
Ian Happ got the scoring off to a bang in the third inning, as he hit a two-run home run to straightaway center field. The Cubs wouldn’t put another run on the board until Anthony Rizzo’s solo homer in the bottom of the eighth inning, but that was just insurance as it was more than enough for the star of this game.
Kyle Hendricks showed everyone why he deserved to lead the rotation out of the gate, as he toyed with the Brewers with his ability to locate and keep hitters off balance all night. He notched the first complete game shutout of the 2020 MLB season in an absolutely dominant effort, and only allowed three base hits (all of them belonging to Orlando Arcia).
With his stellar performance Hendricks became the fourth pitcher in Cubs history to throw a complete-game shutout on Opening Day, and the first to do so since Bill Bonham did it in 1974. But one of the most fascinating things about his CG is that in an age of baseball that glorifies pitchers that can consistently throw 100+ MPH, Hendricks did not even touch 90 MPH in this outing.
Prior to the start of the season many teams were reporting that they only intended to have their starting pitchers go about five innings in the opening game, and several teams (including the New York Mets with Jacob deGrom and Philadelphia Phillies with Aaron Nola) followed through with that plan. The fact that Hendricks was not only able to, but allowed to pitch that deep into the game and throw that many pitches is a testament to how well he performed tonight. The only other start that could compare to Hendricks in dominance was that of Cleveland’s Shane Bieber, who tallied 14 strikeouts in 6 shutout innings against the Kansas City Royals.
Hendricks was undoubtedly the player of this game, and he was backed by an offense that gave him more than enough support. It’s been so long since we’ve said it, but…
CUBS WIN!
Stay tuned to Wrigley Rapport here and on social media for future news and notes as we cover the 2020 campaign.
