By all accounts, Kyle Hendricks did not have his best stuff in Wednesday’s win over the Pirates. But looking just at his pitching line, you would have no idea.

“He was fighting himself a couple innings there mechanically,” David Ross said after Wednesday’s game. “He’s usually a little more down in the zone, he was up a little bit, some things were flat and still look how he pitched.”

Hendricks cruised through 6 innings, allowing 8 baserunners and striking out 6 batters. His lone earned run came off a home run on a misplaced fastball to Colin Moran in the 2nd inning. He allowed multiple hits on hard-hit balls (above 95 mph exit velocity), but managed to scatter them enough to limit damage.

Hendricks also opted for heavier fastball usage than usual. The right-hander threw 60% four-seamers and sinkers, with the former leading his repertoire. His four-seamer has only outweighed his sinker in usage twice in his seven starts this season prior to tonight. He also threw the lowest number of changeups (18) he has in any start this season, a pitch that has become a staple of his repertoire has fallen on the back burner, hopefully for only an abbreviated period of time.

“Going in, the gameplan was to have more curveballs and heaters just against this team,” Hendricks said after Tuesday’s start. “But then my changeup just isn’t feeling good…that’s something I really have to focus on and work on in my side [session] this week.”

Tuesday night, Jon Lester faced a Pirates club that had a tendency to make contact early. Marquee Sports Network analyst Ryan Sweeney mentioned on Cubs Live! that Hendricks was well suited to counteract the Pirates if they chose to act hastily out of the gate. Hendricks has fared slightly better than league average this season in matchups that end on the first or second pitch of the at-bat (link). 

But the Pirates battled Hendricks and didn’t jump on the first couple pitches as Sweeney thought they might. This could have been because, as Ross said and Hendricks confirmed, the Cubs starter didn’t have his best stuff. He found it as the game went on, relied on his fastball and managed to preserve the Cubs’ lead past the 5th inning. From there, the floodgates opened and the Cubs cruised to victory.

“Even when he’s not as sharp as he can be, he finds a way to get outs,” Ross said. “He finds a way to throw strikes.”

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