Kyle Hendricks was as good as anyone could be the first time through the Braves’ lineup on Friday afternoon.
And the Cubs veteran was as bad as he’s ever been the second time through.
The Braves had something to do with that.
After not managing to get a baserunner against Hendricks through three innings, the best team in the majors tattooed him for eight hits in the fourth — including home runs on consecutive pitches and six that went for extra bases.
That, plus a dominant return from the injured list by lefty Max Fried, boosted the Braves to an 8-0 shutout before 36,225 at Wrigley Field.
The seven earned runs allowed in an inning tied a career high for Hendricks (4-6), who also did it against the Phillies in 2021.
That’s what the Braves (70-37) do. They began Friday leading MLB in home runs (206), slugging (.498) and OPS (.837).
“Just one of those days,” said Hendricks, who left after the fourth inning. “Still felt good, made a lot of good pitches. That’s obviously a really good lineup over there. They put some good swings on some balls. Maybe I made like two mistakes there, not trying to give in but trying to keep our team in the game there.”
Ronald Acuna Jr. started the barrage with a single, Ozzie Albies doubled to the ivy in center and Austin Riley drove in a run with a groundout to second. Then the Braves started teeing off.
On consecutive pitches, Matt Olson doubled to the left-field corner, Sean Murphy hit a 374-foot homer to left and Marcell Ozuna ripped a 437-foot blast to left-center. Just like that, it was 5-0.
But Atlanta wasn’t done.
After Hendricks struck out Eddie Rosario, he gave up three more hits, leading to two more runs: Orlando Arcia’s double to left, Michael Harris II’s RBI single to left-center and Acuna’s triple to right.
“Just blew up on me,” Hendricks said. “One of those days, just kind of flush it and move on. Just disappointed I didn’t keep us close with how good we’ve been playing ... and give us a chance there.”
Indeed, it was quite the reversal of form for the Cubs (56-54). They came in having won five straight series and played themselves out of sell mode at the trade deadline and into the thick of both the NL Central and NL wild-card races.
But the Braves are playing on a different level than everyone else in MLB and they have a way of making pitchers pay for any mistakes.
“Harris’ ball fell in, could have been the third out,” manager David Ross said. “Could have limited the damage. Watched some of the replays; some of them were executed pitches, it’s just line to line with this group. Some hard contact and their bats in the zone a long time. Big strong gentlemen, good hitters.
“They put a big number on y,ou really fast, which they did in that one inning.”
It’s not that Hendricks didn’t try to keep the Braves off balance after retiring the first nine in a row. He and the Cubs staff noticed a lot of first-pitch takes the first time through the order.
“We evaluated in the dugout, ‘OK, they’re probably going to come out swinging, being aggressive,’” Hendricks said. “So we tried to do a couple different things there, some pitches off the plate they still got to. You’ve got to tip your cap sometimes. Really good hitters, really good team over there.”
