Game-changer: Hendricks' curveball making big difference

SAN FRANCISCO -- Cubs veteran Kyle Hendricks threw a pitch to Thairo Estrada in the seventh inning that looked destined for the top of the strike zone on Tuesday night. At the last moment, the offering dove down sharply, running low and outside as the Giants second baseman swung.

The baseball nicked off a piece of Estrada’s bat, sending the shard spinning into foul ground up the third-base line. It was a glimpse at the curveball that has once again become a real weapon for Hendricks, who leaned on the pitch heavily in a strong seven-inning effort within the Cubs’ 5-1 loss at Oracle Park.

“It's definitely the most confidence I've had in my curveball in my career,” Hendricks said. “I can see just how it's changing the game for me.”

Overall, it was another frustrating night for the Cubs, who fell a season-high six games under .500 (37-43) even with another strong performance from a member of the rotation. The offense went quiet against six San Francisco pitchers and Chicago’s embattled bullpen allowed three runs in the eighth, hindering a chance at a comeback.

While the end result was disappointing for the Cubs, Hendricks continued to get back on track after a tumultuous start to the year led to a stint in the bullpen. In five appearances in June -- including two starts to help the injury-married rotation -- the 34-year-old right-hander now has a 1.27 ERA in 21 1/3 innings.

And Hendricks has found a different pathway to success right now.

“That's a credit to him at this point in his career,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said, “to kind of come up with something new and really coming up with something that's changing his starts.”

Against the Giants, Hendricks featured his curveball 26% of the time (26 out of 100 pitches). That is the second-highest curve percentage and second-most curves thrown in a single start for the righty. Hendricks spun 29 curveballs (27.9%) in a start against the Twins on Sept. 18, 2020.

Hendricks limited San Francisco to two runs in the second and pieced together his first quality start since Sept. 21 last season.

Last year, Hendricks’ curveball rate dipped to 3.5%, as he leaned nearly exclusively on his sinker and changeup. He planned on implementing the curve more this season -- focusing on the pitch over the winter and in Spring Training -- but only used the breaking ball 6.5% of the time in April and then at an 8.4% clip in May.

“It just wasn't feeling right in the beginning of the season. It really wasn't moving right,” Hendricks said. “When I started to get on top of the baseball, get down in the zone again, that kind of came with it. I was on top of my curveball. It got sharper. It wasn't popping out of my hand. Once that followed, now the rest came.”

Hendricks came into Tuesday’s outing throwing his curveball at a 17.9% rate in June, and then pushed it further against the Giants. He pointed to a grip change that he worked on with assistant pitching coach Daniel Moskos for helping create the more drastic movement of late. Hendricks also heaped a pile of credit on catcher Miguel Amaya.

“Miggy's been the key behind it,” Hendricks said.

Hendricks called his own pitches last season using the PitchCom system and continued to do so at the start of this year. In his first seven turns out of the rotation, he posted a 10.57 ERA and found himself in the 'pen for the first time in his career. One theme throughout his starts early in the season was the issue of predictability.

Hendricks has since handed the pitch-calling duties to Amaya, trusting the catcher to read swings and focus on sequencing. That took one component off the pitcher’s mental plate and led to some pitch decisions that have even surprised him. Hendricks decided that if he was surprised by the call, the batter probably would be caught off-guard, too.

One result has been a surge in curveballs.

“What has made him so good forever,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said of Hendricks, “is his ability to be one step ahead of opposing hitters and know how to mix his stuff. But it's also the hardest thing to do -- when you’re struggling and you're working on other things mechanically, or trying to think through things -- to also be sharp and on top of that stuff.

“When that happens, and you're calling your own game, you forget about, 'Oh the curveball, this is going to be a great time to use it.'”