Gray outdueled by Hendricks ... and might have Waino to blame

ST. LOUIS -- The fact that Cubs veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks outdueled St. Louis ace Sonny Gray and silenced the bats of the Cardinals was both wholly unbelievable and totally believable on Friday night at Busch Stadium.

Unbelievable because Hendricks came into Friday 1-7 with a 7.53 ERA this season and losses in his previous three starts. Also, there’s this: The Cubs were just 3-8 in his 11 starts -- a role that was interrupted for a time because he had been demoted to the bullpen for a stint.

However, Hendricks’ seven innings of scoreless baseball was also totally believable because that’s pretty much what he has done throughout his 11-year MLB career when facing the rival Cardinals. The names and faces in the Cardinals uniforms change, but Hendricks’ history of success has not. Following the Redbirds' 5-1 loss to the Cubs on Friday, Hendricks improved to 14-4 with a 2.51 ERA in 28 games (27 starts) against St. Louis. The 14 wins -- the most by any active MLB pitcher against the Cards -- are four more than Hendricks has against any other MLB team.

In addition to not having allowed a run in his last 16 1/3 innings vs. the Cardinals, dating back to 2023, he has twirled 11 1/3 scoreless innings against them this season alone. Meanwhile, he has an 8.08 ERA against the rest of the league.

“It’s not just us. … He's been a really good pitcher who’s had a good career,” said Cardinals struggling slugger Paul Goldschmidt, who was 0-for-3 against Hendricks on Friday. “He just has so much movement on that fastball and he's able to use it on both sides of the plate. It's almost like two different pitches, and then he has his curveball, and obviously that changeup is good as well.

“While it looks simple, he’s up, down, in and out. While maybe it’s just two pitches, it can feel like six or seven. He's done a good job his whole career, especially against us.”

Goldschmidt has had a lot of struggles already this season, but the moment that will likely haunt him throughout the night on Friday and into Saturday morning was the 3-2 pitch that Hendricks struck him out with in the fourth inning. After Goldschmidt struck out on a foul tip on an 88.9 mph pitch that was in the heart of his hitting zone, Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya was able to throw out Alec Burleson attempting to steal second to end the inning. Goldschmidt said it was one of several of Hendricks' mistakes that he and the Cardinals failed to make him pay for on the night.

“Both my first and second at-bats were 3-2 [sinkers] that were in the middle of the plate,” said Goldschmidt, who drove in the Cardinals’ lone run of the night in the ninth inning with a one-out single. “So, yeah, you'd love to hit that one [in the fourth inning] when he makes a mistake. You don't know what pitch he's going to throw and you don't know where he's going to throw it, so it's not [easy].”

Could the culprit of Friday’s frustrating loss have been none other than Cardinals legend Adam Wainwright, he of the 200 career wins while wearing the birds on the bat across his chest? Wainwright, now an analyst for FOX, was lamenting Hendricks' history of success against the Cardinals to Cubs manager Craig Counsell before a game in St. Louis in late May, and that notion led to Hendricks getting Friday’s start at Busch Stadium even though the veteran had lasted just two innings in his previous start because of back trouble.

“Wainwright said that to me a couple of series ago when we were here is that you should just put [Hendricks] out there against the Cardinals,” Counsell said.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol is well aware of the long history of frustration that Hendricks has doled out to the Redbirds. He wanted little to do with answering a question about it before the game and was even more bitter about it after the game.

“We didn’t take very good swings against him, bottom line,” Marmol said of Hendricks. “We haven’t hit him well. Other teams have lit him up, and we did not.”

Brendan Donovan, who is in his third season with St. Louis, had no clue about how Hendricks had bedeviled the Cards, and he cringed when hearing that he had piled up 14 wins versus the Redbirds. How Hendricks reads swings and makes adjustments is unique, Donovan said.

“He doesn’t miss over the middle,” Donovan said. “He’s so effective and he pitches in certain locations and changes speeds. His delivery is kind of quick, so balls do get on you a little more. He just never missed over the middle and did a nice job of hitting his spots.”