CHICAGO -- Cubs manager Craig Counsell understands what Kyle Hendricks has meant to the organization over the past decade. This is a pitcher who has carved out a long career based on precision, helped lead the franchise to the top of baseball’s mountaintop as World Series champions and is revered as a leader behind the scenes.

And it is the consistency and longevity of Hendricks’ performance in his time with the North Siders that has added a layer of perplexity to the pitcher’s struggles in this season’s first month. Sunday’s effort in a 6-3 loss to the Marlins can be considered a step forward, but that it was progress shows how rough it has been for the righty.

“I respect his track record of what he’s accomplished,” Counsell said on Sunday morning. “And you go through these. He’s gone through -- maybe not this particular stretch -- but stretches where you’re not pitching the way you want to and struggling. And you figure it out.”

A few starts ago, Hendricks sounded lost and was admittedly searching for answers after the drastic nature of his early-season results. In his latest performance at Wrigley Field, there were flashes of the vintage Professor, as he induced a stream of weak contact overall and walked off the hill with no walks and five strikeouts on his line.

There was also a mammoth homer -- the eighth allowed by Hendricks through five starts -- from Jesús Sánchez in the second inning that Statcast projected at 460 feet to center. In the fourth, there was a rapid-fire offensive assault that saw Miami rattle off four singles in a span of four pitches en route to a three-run outburst.

Then there was Counsell’s decision to lift the veteran Hendricks at only 56 pitches after four innings. The Cubs were only trailing by one run, 4-3, and the Marlins had the top of the lineup looming. Entering the afternoon, opposing batters were hitting .727 (8-for-11) with three homers, five walks and no strikeouts when facing Hendricks for a third time this year.

“Of course I want to go as deep in the game as possible,” Hendricks said. “But when you're not getting the results and giving up runs -- that's a game we had to get. So no, nothing on that decision there. I've got to be better and prove it to get those opportunities.”

Here is the reality Hendricks and the Cubs are facing:

• The right-hander has gone five starts in a row with no more than five innings logged. That ties a single-season streak for Hendricks, who had an 8.10 ERA in 23 1/3 innings over five starts from May 20-June 19, 2022. He was dealing with a right shoulder injury in that stretch and was shut down after three more appearances.
• Hendricks allowed at least five earned runs in each of his first four outings. The righty was charged with four earned runs in four innings on Sunday, lowering his season ERA to 12.00 from 12.71.
• Entering Sunday, Hendricks had allowed an .843 OPS against hitters in their initial plate appearance, followed by a 1.056 OPS in a second meeting and a 2.449 OPS when seeing batters for a third time.

As for the positives, Hendricks limited the Marlins to an average exit velocity of 85.5 mph in Sunday’s start, marking his second-lowest mark of the campaign. For perspective, the righty had an 85.2 mph rate overall in 2023, ranking in the top 2% of the Majors, according to Statcast.

Hendricks also said he felt his mental approach improved in this outing. Rather than thinking about mechanical cues or getting distracted by a missed pitch or bad-luck hit, the pitcher said he was more “locked in” on the glove of Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya. Hendricks added that he felt he executed some of the pitches Miami put good swings on in the loss.

The results have made that side of the game challenging.

“That's just human nature,” Hendricks said. “But again, when you're out there, you really can't have those human emotions. It's just task at hand, lock in, executing on the glove. Those are the thoughts I have to have the whole time when I'm out there, and it was better today.”

Counsell agreed that this was, at a minimum, a step in the right direction.

“There were some positive signs,” said the manager. “Some good steps. Some positive steps. Some good innings, for sure. Some took-control-of-the-inning type innings. But we need better results, frankly.”