It all nearly came together on Monday night at Busch Stadium, the in-depth research, snowballing confidence and never-nervous body language, Hendricks finishing three outs away from the 16th no-hitter in franchise history and settling for a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in front of 43,397.
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Hazelbaker drove an 0-2 pitch into the right-field stands for his 12th home run. Hendricks, the major-league ERA leader, was relieved by Aroldis Chapman. “Just left the ball up and he got it”.
“If you’re going to give it up, at least it’s that way and not a cheap hit”, Hendricks said.
Hendricks cruised comfortably with a lead through eight innings thanks to home runs from Ben Zobrist and Dexter Fowler, and an RBI single from Anthony Rizzo. The St. Louis Cardinals offense continues to produce daily, and they’ve won six of their last seven games when scoring more than three runs. Hendricks got hitters to chase on eight of his 12 two-strike pitches.
This story will be updated.
Each night in the 2016 baseball season we’ll run down the top news, facts and highlights from around Major League Baseball. Reynaldo Lopez (3-3) was among three relievers to combine for 4 2/3 scoreless innings.
Braves 12, Marlins 7: Nick Markakis doubled home the go-ahead run in the sixth inning, and Tyler Flowers had four RBIs for Atlanta.
“I’ve always had confidence in my pitchability”, said Hendricks, who has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 20 consecutive starts. He has earned just one victory in his last six starts.
His first career no-hit bid was broken up by Jeremy Hazelbaker, who led off the ninth with a solo home run, but Hendricks improved to 15-7 with an MLB-leading 2.03 ERA after his near-historic showing.
That could describe much of his breakout season, which began as the Cubs’ fifth starter and is finishing strong as a potential Game 2 playoff starter.
TORONTO – The Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto cleared the benches and bullpens after the Blue Jays wrapped up a win, ending the skirmish without throwing any punches.
Oakland’s Khris Davis and Marcus Semien hit three-run homers as the Athletics matched a season high with 17 hits in a 16-3 rout of Kansas City.
The teams combined for 34 hits.
Keyvius Sampson started and Blake Wood (6-3), Michael Lorenzen and Raisel Iglesias followed as the Reds posted their seventh shutout since the All-Star break. Garcia went 4 for 5 with three runs scored and a solo home run, while Eaton collected two hits, including a homer, two runs scored, two RBIs and a walk.
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Ortiz crushed homer number 536 as the Boston Red Sox thrashed the Baltimore Orioles 12-2.
