Brewers' bats quiet, but pitching auspicious

CHICAGO -- Wrigley Field was as quiet as the Brewers’ bats against Kyle Hendricks, and even though everyone prepared for this kind of atmosphere at the start of 2020’s 60-game sprint, it was all quite … weird.

That was the word Brandon Woodruff and Orlando Arcia each used to describe the atmosphere after watching Hendricks navigate through Milwaukee’s lineup en route to a three-hit shutout and a 3-0 Cubs win on Opening Day.

The only noise came from Cubs players on the bench, who cheered like they were back in high school. And from the bats of Ian Happ and Anthony Rizzo, whose home runs backed Hendricks in Major League Baseball’s first Opening Day shutout since Clayton Kershaw carved up the Giants in 2013. It was the first for a Cubs pitcher since Bill Bonham beat the Phillies in 1974.

For the Brewers, it marked the third time in franchise history that a single opposing pitcher threw a shutout on Opening Day, and the first since Dave McNally for Baltimore in 1973. The only other instance was 50 years ago, on April 7, 1970, when Andy Messersmith of the Angels cruised to a 12-0 win at County Stadium to spoil the Brewers’ very first game in Milwaukee.

Even the final innings of that day were not as quiet as Friday.

“Really, it’s kind of eerie in a way,” Woodruff said. “You always play here, especially Brewers and Cubs, it’s always packed, no matter what time of the day. That was the weird thing. I’m sitting there catching myself where you can actually hear yourself think, you know what I mean?”

Said Brewers manager Craig Counsell: “It's strange. I don't want to tell you it's not.”

As strange as it was, it was still baseball, and a couple of old adages applied.

Adage one: Make a mistake, and a big-league hitter can capitalize.

That’s what happened to Woodruff, who touched 99.3 mph with multiple pitches in the first inning and was in control until the third. With a runner aboard and Happ hitting for the first time in 2020, Brewers catcher Omar Narváez set up for a sinker low and away. The pitch was up and in, and Happ hit it to the bushes beyond the center-field fence for a two-run Cubs lead.

That homer represented all of Chicago’s damage against Woodruff, who threw 85 pitches in five innings and was charged with two earned runs on four hits in the first Opening Day start of his career.

“In the back of my mind, I wanted to go changeup,” Woodruff said. “And we went sinker. If I execute the pitch, it’s a ground ball, but to good hitters in the Major Leagues, if you miss completely across the plate, that’s what’s going to happen.”

Woodruff took that lesson to the next two innings, and Counsell praised the right-hander’s ability to grind through. Alex Claudio and Bobby Wahl combined for a scoreless sixth, with Wahl making a long-awaited Brewers debut after losing all of 2019 to knee surgery.

The Brewers got an equally promising -- and long-awaited -- appearance in the seventh from former All-Star closer Corey Knebel, who missed all of last season while recovering from Tommy John surgery but is looking more like his old self with each summer outing. On Friday, Knebel’s fastball touched 94.4 mph, a tick up from Summer Camp, and closer to the 96.9 mph he averaged in 2018.

“For Corey, it's one of those 'that's over with' moments for him,” Counsell said. “'I got back out there, I did my thing, I'm back.’ Now it starts to become business as usual for him.”

Which leads to adage No. 2: Velocity isn’t everything.

Hendricks’ firmest fastball was 89.3 mph, yet he moved through the Brewers’ lineup like a warm knife through butter, allowing only three singles -- all to Arcia -- without yielding a walk. Hendricks struck out eight in the first four innings and whiffed nine in all, including Keston Hiura, Christian Yelich and Justin Smoak twice apiece. Yelich was 0-for-4 with nothing hit out of the infield, including a game-ending fielder’s choice.

"It's just so much fun to watch [Hendricks] dissect a lineup,” said Cubs manager David Ross. “You didn't see too many great swings. I will talk to him a little bit about Arcia and trying to get him out. Other than that, it was pretty dang good.”

Since Woodruff could hear himself think, he thought about this: “Oh my gosh. Sitting there watching him, it’s really impressive how he can manipulate the ball, especially with the two different types of changeups. It’s really impressive to watch him. It’s kind of like man, if you could take my stuff and apply it to how he pitches -- that’s why he’s really good. It’s for a reason. It’s super impressive to come out the first game and throw a complete game.”

Perhaps Saturday afternoon, the novelty of the empty park will have worn off.

“We all did something that we've never done tonight,” Counsell said. “We'll know what to expect a little more and I think you start to get an idea of what to expect for the rest of the season, as far as how we're going to handle [it]. The lack of [the] adrenaline that the fans supply us is a challenge we're all going to have to look within, and help each other with.”