Chicago Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki has thank-you gift headed his way courtesy of teammate Kyle Hendricks.
Suzuki’s leaping catch robbed Yoán Moncada of a grand slam in the seventh inning as the White Sox threatened to put themselves back into the game with one swing. Suzuki’s well-timed snag stole the Sox’s mounting momentum as the Cubs held on for a 7-3 victory Tuesday in front of 37,079 fans for the first sold-out crowd of the season at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The play earned Suzuki more than just praise from Hendricks. To show his appreciation, the veteran pitcher asked Suzuki whether he prefers liquor or beer.
“He’s a big beer fan so easy for me,” a smiling Hendricks said after the game.
Dansby Swanson, who produced his first multihomer game as a Cub, took a different approach.
“I told him, ‘I’m not going to give you a high-five for it because that’s what I expect you to do,’” Swanson said with a grin. “He’s such a good player. I remind him all the time that he’s a special player. He’s got so much ability and it’s fun to see him make plays like that.”
The offense gave Hendricks plenty to work with on a night they hit four home runs and stole five bases.
“Kyle’s performance was really good,” manager David Ross said. “He was in a nice rhythm, a lot of soft contact, a lot of swing-and-miss. Loved the way the offense came up.”
Hendricks started calling his own pitches after his June 5 start in San Diego when he got dinged for three pitch clock violations. The inability to shake off a pitch more than once without running out of time or disrupting his rhythm and aggressiveness influenced the decision for Hendricks to use PitchCom himself. It’s been an effective tool for Hendricks the last six weeks.
“It’s unfortunate that, for me, it takes a little bit of that strategy element out of the game when we’re used to that pitcher-catcher relationship and sometimes it takes a little extra time to get to the right pitch that you both are agreeing on,” Hendricks told the Tribune. “So we just had to think of some other options.
“It just happens for me that it helps my rhythm and timing so much more when I can just pick one pitch real quick instead of shaking two or three times. I get convicted to make the pitch.”
Since utilizing PitchCom to make his calls on the mound, Hendricks owns a 3.14 ERA over his last nine starts, including in Tuesday’s win against the Sox.
Hendricks took a perfect game into the fifth when Eloy Jiménez began the inning with a double. It stood as the Sox’s lone hit until Hendricks allowed the first three batters of the seventh to reach. Suzuki’s fantastic play to rob Moncada of a grand slam instead turned it into a sacrifice fly for a 7-2 lead. Andrew Vaughn’s RBI single ended Hendricks’ night.
Hendricks thought Moncada’s ball was gone off the bat.
“And then he made it look so casual, kind of nonchalant,” Hendricks said. “Just an unreal catch. Unbelievable catch that changed the scope of the game right there. They could have been right back in it.”
Even with Hendricks punching in the calls to the PitchCom device, everything else about the process largely remains the same. He still goes through the entire game plan with whoever is catching his start. On Tuesday that meant Yan Gomes after Tucker Barnhart had been behind the plate his previous three starts. Miguel Amaya has caught Hendricks four times since the San Diego game.
Hendricks will input his choice into PitchCom as soon as he gets the ball with a full clock — 20 seconds with a runner on base or 15 seconds if the bases are empty — to allow as much time as possible to adjust the call. The catcher will only deliver a pitch call back if he wants to suggest another pitch. Radio silence means they stick with Hendricks’ selection. Should the catcher need to relay something from the bench relating to the running game, it will be signaled after Hendricks submits the pitch he wants.
“There’s plenty of time to do all that, which has been the good part,” Hendricks said. “We don’t feel rushed now that we both can put our input in there.”
Between innings, Hendricks and the starting catcher will talk over what each is seeing with his stuff and the hitters’ swings and approaches. Hendricks credited Gomes’ work behind the plate with the adjustments and seeing what they didn’t need to deviate from during Tuesday’s win. The Sox showed a patient approach the first through time the order, letting Hendricks get ahead. They became a lot more aggressive during their second at-bats off Hendricks, which he noted that Gomes pointed out right away.
They changed up the pitch mix, though Hendricks wasn’t happy with a couple of his calls in the seventh inning when four of the first five batters reached: “I made some really dumb decisions there. Two or three really dumb pitches.”
“Yan let me know about it for sure,” Hendricks added with a laugh.
The victory put the Cubs (49-51) the closest they’ve been to .500 since they were one game under after taking the series opener in London on June 24.
“You see where the potential is,” Hendricks said. “The lineup, one to nine, passing the baton on to the next guy to the defense we play. When we do everything right, play the fundamentals and take it one pitch at a time we have a really good chance of winning every game. We know we’ve got everything we need in this clubhouse.
“We can’t wait to put it all together and go on a run no matter what.”
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