The resurgent Chicago Cubs are the hottest team in baseball as the trade deadline draws near.
They will seek their ninth consecutive victory on Sunday when they conclude their four-game series against the host St. Louis Cardinals.
The Cubs won the first three games of this series by scores of 10-3, 3-2 and 5-1. They will turn to veteran Kyle Hendricks (4-4, 3.45 ERA) in a bid to complete the four-game sweep.
Hendricks is coming off a 7-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday. He allowed three runs on just four hits and a walk in 6 1/3 innings while hitting the quality-start metric for the eighth time in his last 10 starts.
“He just was in a nice rhythm, a lot of soft contact, a lot of swing and miss,” Cubs manager David Ross said.
Hendricks’ tenure in Chicago has bridged the team’s World Series title run through another rebuild to the club’s current postseason push. He hopes the Cubs’ recent success encourages team management to go for it this year rather than stage another sell-off.
“You see what the potential is,” Hendricks told The Athletic. “The lineup, from one to nine, passing the baton to the next guy. The defense we play. When we do everything right and play the fundamentals and take it one pitch at a time, we have a really good chance of winning every game. We know we got everything we need in this clubhouse.”
Hendricks missed almost two months after recovering from capsular tear in his right shoulder. He has not faced the Cardinals this season but has been their nemesis throughout his career.
He is 13-3 with a 2.69 ERA in 25 career starts against them.
The Cardinals will attempt to counter by sending left-hander Steven Matz (1-7, 4.34) to the mound. He has gotten his season back on track during his shift to the bullpen.
Matz posted a 2.81 ERA in eight relief appearances while regaining his aggression.
“It’s like swinging a weighted bat type of thing,” Matz told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “You come out of the bullpen, it’s quality pitches right away. You don’t have time to think. It’s just go, go, go.”
Matz also rediscovered the feel for his changeup, which he sets up with a mid-90s fastball.
“I feel like early in the year I was getting hurt a lot of times on changeups just being up in the zone and kind of flat,” Matz said. “Make sure that changeup is located down, and then they have to honor that. And my fastball will play up.”
Matz is 1-0 with a 1.08 ERA against the Cubs this season in one start and one relief appearance. He is 1-2 with a 3.51 ERA in five career appearances against them, including four starts.
The Cubs activated Nick Madrigal (hamstring strain) off the 10-day injured list for Saturday’s game, and he went 2-for-4 with a run. The team returned fellow infielder Miles Mastrobuoni to Triple-A Iowa to make room for him.
–Field Level Media
