Even Hendricks considered his pitching style and said: “Honestly, I didn’t think I’d ever really get that close to one”.
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Hazelbaker drove an 0-2 pitch into the right-field stands for his 12th home run of the season.
Heyward kept hold of the catch despite a fan in a Cardinals shirt trying to wrestle the ball from his glove as teammate Javy Baez fought off the fan.
Peralta of the Cardinals called Hendricks a “smart pitcher”.
“It’s a different form of dominance”, Maddon said of Hendricks, who relies on the best changeup on the staff and spotting a fastball more than 5 miles per hour behind Arrieta’s.
There was only one changeup that went awry, the one Hazelbaker hit out. I do believe that he knows exactly what he wants to do per hitter, nearly per pitch, before the game begins.
Hazelbaker had been one for 25 on an 0-2 count.
“If you’re going to give it up, at least it’s that way and not a cheap hit”, Hendricks said. “I just left the ball up and he got it”. I needed the catcher to go to the mound. He stopped Miguel Montero from heading back to the mound, and Maddon let his feelings on it be known.
Odor launched his 31st home run off Astros right-hander James Hoyt (1-1) to help the Rangers (86-59) extend their lead over the Astros (75-69) in the American League West to 10 1/2 games.
Maddon was ejected, and Chapman entered to finish the one-hitter. “That’s exactly what happened there”.
“I’m not supposed to go out there because I’d been kicked out already”.
“Everybody wants dominance to be pure force”, Maddon said.
In Cincinnati, Scott Schebler stroked a two-run single in the Reds’ three-run first inning and four pitchers teamed up on Cincinnati’s eighth shutout of the season.
Hendricks has now allowed three earned runs or fewer in each of his last 20 starts, the longest streak by any big-league pitcher this season and a major reason why the Cubs are 41 games over.500 and have the best record in baseball. Zobrist, a native of Eureka, Ill., homered off the Cardinals for the first time in 77 at-bats.
“I made a lot of good pitches”, Hendricks said. Hendricks (15-7), the major league ERA leader at 2.03, was relieved by Aroldis Chapman. He is at 2.03 now. “They’ve got professional hitters”. “I probably made four or five bad pitches, just kind of one of those nights where you get away with them”.
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Leake, while disappointed in the result, admitted Hendricks was “fun to watch, unfortunately”. “He’s turned himself into a guy that’s fun to watch”.
