The Cubs couldn’t have asked for a better outing for Kyle Hendricks.

Originally scheduled to start in a rehab assignment on Sunday, Hendricks was instead activated to give Jameson Taillon a little more time to recover. Amidst a difficult start to his season, Hendricks stepped up when the Cubs needed him.  

The veteran righty tossed 5-innings of 1-run ball in the Cubs’ 5-4, extra-inning win over the Pirates.

Hendricks, placed on the IL on April 22 with a back injury, was off to the worst start to a season in his major-league career, carrying a 12.00 ERA and 2.09 WHIP in 21 innings across 5 starts. The 34-year-old righty turned in his best outing of the year — allowing just a towering solo home run to Oneil Cruz in the 4^th inning and striking out 5.

“There was a lot of weak contact today,” Craig Counsell said. “What we’re kind of accustomed to watching Kyle pitch. They hit a lot of foul balls, but he was good today and gave us what we needed.”

He wasn’t perfect — he walked 4, but his ability to keep the Cubs in the ball game was a welcome sign. The Cubs need Hendricks to be a successful member of their rotation.

While the performances of Javier Assad, Hayden Wesneski, Ben Brown and Jordan Wicks have been critical for the Cubs’ starting rotation, Hendricks will still need to play a big role for that group this season. All four of those pitchers have never pitched a full season in a big-league rotation and the latter three have yet to play in an entire season in the majors, so they’ll likely have some sort of innings limit this season. Expecting them to pitch the entire season — and at the level they’re at — is unrealistic.

That doesn’t take into account injuries — which already have plagued the Cubs’ rotation. Taillon started the year on the IL and has had his start moved back — he’s scheduled to start Tuesday in Atlanta — and Justin Steele missed over a month after suffering a hamstring injury on Opening Day. 

[WATCH: Breaking down Kyle Hendricks’ outing against Pittsburgh]

The Cubs last season had 7 players make double-digit starts, plus Wicks’ 7 starts down the stretch, so having options will be crucial for this team.

Sunday’s outing was a step in the right direction for the veteran.

Hendricks retired the first 5 hitters he faced and cruised through the first 3 innings, allowing just a walk and a hit. It looked like his bugaboos were coming back to haunt him in the 4^th.

Cruz led the frame off with a towering, solo home run to right field. The homer had a launch angle of 47-degrees and was only a home run in 13 of 30 ballparks, per Statcast. Then Connor Joe drew a walk but was picked off at first base in a rundown. Hendricks scattered another free pass to Jack Suwinski, but he rallied, striking out Jared Triolo and inducing a groundout from Rowdy Tellez to escape the jam.

Hendricks worked around a 2-out walk in the 5^th, capping a much-needed strong outing.