The review of Sonny Gray’s first-half finale with its seven steady innings, handful of mild hits, and most of all two runs scored on outs would look and feel a lot different for the Cardinals if not for the name opposite his in the pitching matchup.
Kyle Hendricks tends to give the Cardinals two things.
Flinches and zeroes.
Gray, the centerpiece acquisition of the Cardinals’ pitching-rich offseason, had the kind of start to slingshot him into the second half if not for the hits that found holes and the offense that was full of them. Gray limited the Cubs to three runs – two of which scored on a groundout and a sacrifice fly – but during his seven innings on the mound the Cardinals managed zilch against Hendricks and eventually lost, 5-1, on Friday night at Busch Stadium.
Gray got the start to build on.
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The offense has three days to do the same.
“I mean, that’s a frustrating game,†Gray said. “I threw a lot of strikes. I stayed on the attack. It just felt like when they put the ball in play it just seemed to be falling. Yeah, I just got to stay right there. I’ve got to stay right there and continue to attack the guys the way that I did, and just know that it’s not always going to fall that way.â€
Gray (9-6) concluded his first half season with the Cardinals by completing seven innings for the fifth time this season and fourth time in the past month. He surpassed 100 pitches for the first time this season and covered enough for the Cardinals to preserve their bullpen for the sprint ahead this weekend against the Cubs. Gray felt he was “getting stronger†through the start and noted late Friday night that “I’m more than capable of doing that, and maybe down the second half will be my time to do that a little bit more.â€
He collected a quality start and continued so many of the things he’s done well since being irritated about back-to-back starts in May. He has momentum heading into the second half.
The offense is still searching. Coasting from a strong road trip that saw a healthy outpouring of runs, the Cardinals have lost three consecutive at home, and narrowly avoided a shutout Friday night with a ninth-inning run.
While they’ve played fewer home games than most NL teams, the Cardinals have also scored the fewest runs at home of any NL team. They have three games in two days to change that and improve upon a .243 average and a .382 slugging percentage at Busch.
Hendricks slowed them down.
Per usual.
“We didn’t take very good swings against him, bottom line,†manager Oliver Marmol said. “We haven’t hit him well. Other teams have lit him up. We did not.â€
Hendricks has an 8.08 ERA in his innings against other teams this season and a 0.00 ERA in his 11 1/3 innings against the Cardinals. The veteran right-hander, a holdover from the Cubs’ most recent World Series championship, has 14 wins in 27 starts against his club’s archrival. Since the advent of the wild-card era, only Hall of Famers Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux have more wins against the Cardinals, and they each have 17.
Give Hendricks (2-7) time.
“Adam Wainwright said that to me a couple of series ago, when we were here, that you should just pitch Kyle out there against the Cardinals,†Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “I do think there’s something to a mound that you go on and you just love throwing from that mound. Maybe that’s what Kyle has got going here.â€
Removed from the rotation and relocated to the bullpen earlier this season, Hendricks emerged due to an effective, emergency and scoreless outing against the Cardinals. Who else? Back as a starter, Hendricks pitched seven shutout innings Friday and struck out three. The one walk he allowed was quickly erased on a double play ball, and he did not allow a Cardinal to reach second base against him. Two were thrown out trying. With mix of a below-average fastball, a slower changeup, and a slower curveball, Hendricks toyed with the Cardinals timing and lured them into some of the most uncomfortable swings of their season.
Twice Paul Goldschmidt missed a pitch down the middle because Hendricks had him ready for pitches that held to the edge.
“He just has so much movement on that fastball, and he’s able to use it on both sides of the plate. It’s almost like two different pitches,†Goldschmidt said. “He’s using it up, down, in and out, and it’s like two pitches that can feel like six or seven.
“Look, he still makes plenty of mistakes,†the Cardinals’ first baseman said. “Look at my at-bat. I had some pitches that I should have hit, and I didn’t hit them. He just has so much movement on his pitch, and that’s the biggest thing. He can throw his fastball up and in for a strike and that 87 in going to play like a 92-mph fastball. And he uses it down and away, and now that’s probably going to play 85 mph. So, you’re looking at his fastball basically for what it feels like, timing-wise, there’s an 8 to 10 mph difference. Then the changeup, that’s another 8 mph off of that, and then the curveball – that’s another 5-plus mph. He’s made a career of having really good movement and mixing it up.â€
The Cardinals have had a season of stalled streaks, a few of which fizzled out because of how they’ve done at home. The Cardinals have not lost a home series since the first week of May, and yet they’re only 23-21 at Busch Stadium this season. After Kansas City’s doubleheader sweep Wednesday, the Cardinals are 0-3 so far on this home stand with three to play in two days.
Some of that stems from a sluggish offense. Two of the team’s top power sources, Goldschmidt and Nolan Gorman, have combined for 15 homers at Busch but are batting .198 and .174 at home, respectively.
Gray did not need much support to change the view of his outing.
The right-handed sped through the first two innings, and the first run he allowed the Cubs conjured out of three balls that did not leave the infield. A bunt single propelled the inning. A sacrifice bunt put two runners in scoring position. A groundout scored the run. In the seventh inning, the Cubs widened their lead to 3-0 with a sacrifice fly off Gray. The right-hander allowed a season-high nine hits, but one of the ricocheted off of him, another was a bunt, and at least two others were flares not hit all that hard.
“They touched the ball and it seemed to fall over the infield and in front of a guy,†Gray said. “I’ve got to continue to stay right there and know that it’s not going to play out that way over the course of the long haul.â€
Had he watched Hendricks, he would have had evidence.
Following each of the innings the Cubs scored runs, Hendricks followed with an expedient inning. The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning, and Hendricks retired the side on 10 pitches in the bottom of the inning. Ian Happ’s double coupled with Dansby Swanson’s single for a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth. With help from a strikeout/throw-out double play that the Cardinals tried to avoid a double play, Hendricks needed only nine pitches for the bottom of the fourth inning.
“I think just being aggressive,†Hendricks said of his efficiency. He added about his success vs. Cardinals: “Honestly, it’s still a lot of luck. There are so many good hitters over there, and I just keep putting my head down and trying to make pitch after another.â€
Gray used a similar phrase about “continuing†to make pitches.
There was enough in his first half finish to want to take into a second-half start.
“I feel good physically; that’s a good place to be,†Gray said. “Physically, I feel very, very good. Mentally, I feel good. Obviously had some ups and downs going through the first half. I don’t think I finished it the way I would have liked. I would stay right there and pitch every single game the way I pitched tonight. Nine out of 10 of them would go our way.â€