This season certainly hasn’t been a smooth ride for Kyle Hendricks.

But the longest-tenured Cubs player has continued to impress his coaches and teammates behind the scenes.

With so many off-days on the schedule of late, the Cubs opted to skip Hendricks’ turn in the rotation. He went 10 days between outings before taking the ball again on Friday afternoon to kick off the homestand.

Hendricks once again showed his mettle with a strong performance for the Cubs against the Blue Jays – in an important game for his team.

After a 3-game sweep at the hands of the Guardians in Cleveland this week, the Cubs fell to 5.5 games back in the Wild-Card race.

[WATCH: Craig Counsell believes Cubs need to “earn” winning streaks]

Hendricks did his job Friday, playing the role of stopper with 5 innings, allowing 5 hits and 2 runs (1 earned) and helping his team pull off a 6-5 walk-off win. His one mistake on the day was a home run to Blue Jays No. 9 hitter Leo Jimenez.

Hendricks’ final line likely would have looked even better if not for a pair of errors in the span of 3 hitters in the 4th inning. He took the blame for elongating that inning, believing he needs to give his middle infielders a better feed at second base.

But limiting the damage in that frame to just 1 run was key, as it was an inning that very easily could’ve gotten out of hand. Earlier in the season, it was exactly those types of innings that did get out of hand for Hendricks.

“I think it goes back to everything I’ve been working on is just one pitch at a time,” Hendricks said. “You’re always one pitch away. Tommy came out for that visit. Refocus, make a pitch. Miggy [Amaya] kept me on that had some good pitch selections there and able to get out of that with just the 1 was huge, yeah.”

His season ERA still sits at 6.35 but he has posted a solid 4.05 ERA in 60 innings since the beginning of June.

“At the start of the season, [Hendricks] certainly had some struggles,” Craig Counsell said. “But what I’ve learned about Kyle throughout that adversity is what kind of makes Kyle so beloved, I think, and what makes him Kyle. How he conducts himself and how he does his job is so, so impressive.

“His mindset is certainly of a warrior. It’s the right mindset. It’s never deterred, it’s never daunted and that’s why he’s been in this league for so long and had so much success. And that’s why he’s turned his season around as well. And he has done that.”

[Watch Kyle Hendricks’ complete postgame press conference]

Those struggles forced Hendricks out of the rotation earlier this season and he only re-emerged as a starter due to injuries to Ben Brown and Jordan Wicks.

But Counsell was struck by how Hendricks rose above that adversity.

“It’s fun watching people like that work,” Counsell said. “And when you look back at his successes and his great moments in the organization, you can see them.

“This is maybe an odd way to say it, but even in his struggles, you see why he had those successes. Because that’s how you get to places like that, with how he does his job.”

Hendricks understands he is not yet back to the best version of himself but he is encouraged by how things have gone lately.

“I still got a long way to go,” he said. “That’s why I’m still focused on the work. I keep thanking everybody in there. They’ve stayed on me, put in the work with me every single day. So I’m just excited where I’m getting to again.

“Like I said, still a long way to go, but at least I see some executed pitches, some soft contact back, getting back to who I am. But still got to keep working.”