Kyle Hendricks had his best game in the majors on Monday night in St. Louis. Hendricks faced the minimum through seven innings and walked just two batters through eight innings.
Hendricks took a no-hitter to the ninth inning against the Cardinals in what was simply a masterful performance.
Hendricks had his no-hitter broken up three pitches into the ninth inning. Hendricks hung a changeup on a 0-2 pitch to Jeremy Hazelbaker and he hit the mistake into the right field stands.
Hendricks turned the game over to Aroldis Chapman and the Cubs beat the Cardinals 4-1 at Busch Stadium. Hendricks allowed one run on one hit with two walks and seven strikeouts in eight-plus innings. Hendricks made 96 pitches, 64 for strikes, and faced just 26 batters.
Addison Russell, Jason Heyward, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez made excellent plays in the field behind Hendricks on Monday night.
Kyle Hendricks baffled the Cardinals and improved to 15-7 on the season while lowering his Major League best ERA to 2.03.
The Cubs inched closer to a division title with the 4-1 victory over the Cardinals. The Cubs are 92-51 on the season, that’s 41 games over .500 and a 17-game lead over the Cardinals in the NL Central. The Cubs’ magic number to clinch a division title is down to 3.