Enhanced Box Score: Padres 5, Cubs 0 - June 5, 2023
Another game, another difficult Kyle Hendricks outing to evaluate. That’s three for three since his return from the injured list. On the one hand, the results tonight weren’t great (6.0 IP, 6H, 4ER, 0BB, 4K), he did allow a homer and a few hard-hit doubles, and that wonky strikezone that got David Ross ejected wasn’t really what did him in (that was a bigger issue for the Cubs offense than it was for Hendricks).
But on the other hand, he was clearly thrown off by the called zone/ejection, he had three pitch clock violations (maybe he and catcher Miguel Amaya weren’t exactly on the same page?), two bloop singles fell in and eventually came around to score, one of the “doubles” was initially called an error on Patrick Wisdom but later changed (even though it did look like an error), and he had a 1-2-3 inning in the first, fourth, fifth, and sixth, retiring the last 10 batters he faced. All on just 84 pitches.
In other words, I definitely wouldn’t leave this game feeling like Hendricks doesn’t have it anymore. In fact, it was probably (actually) pretty good. But maybe this does underscore how perfectly he needs things to go to succeed right now? I don’t know. I give him credit for bouncing back so completely after a tough second and third inning. We’ll look into it more deeply tomorrow. I’m curious to see what he says to the media after the game.
On the other side, Blake Snell was so very frustrating. While the homeplate umpire absolutely bailed him out over and over in the first two innings, Snell absolutely locked it in after that, all on his own. He ultimately threw 109 pitches allowing just two hits and three walks against eight strikeouts. And unfortunately, we’ll never know what would have happened if that first inning zone was called more fairly for the Cubs.
Like we discussed before this series began, a split against the Padres on the road, in isolation, wouldn’t be a bad thing. But we’re not playing in isolation. The Cubs have fewer than two months to catch back up in the division to avoid a sell-off at the end of July. And even less time than that to lay any groundwork for a potential BUY at the deadline (which feels more improbable every day). Unfortunately, after the hole they dug for themselves in May, they just have to be a lot better than .500 right now.
Full Box Score.
Source: bleachernation.com
