Cubs' Kyle Hendricks embarking on 'search process' after frustrating start to the season

SAN DIEGO — It’s rare for Kyle Hendricks to show emotion on the mound or in postgame interviews. That steadiness has become a calling card for “The Professor” in a long and esteemed career.

After the Cubs’ 10-2 loss Wednesday to the Padres, however, Hendricks’ voice teetered on the edge of cracking.

“It’s just wanting to be who I need to be for this team, for my teammates,” he said after giving up seven runs in five-plus innings. “And I’m just clearly not doing it. Even three starts, [into the season] every single one, have not been consistent, haven’t given us a chance to win. It just cannot happen. The things I pride myself on, I’m so far from it right now.”

As the Cubs dropped the series in the rubber match, Hendricks recorded an unfortunate career first: Hendricks has given up five-plus runs in three straight starts.

The 17 runs he’s surrendered this season are the second-most he’s ever allowed a three-game span. His only worse stretch came late in 2021, when he gave up 18 runs combined to the Rockies, White Sox and Pirates.

“A lot of reevaluation,” Hendricks said. “Just pissed. Letting my guys down, bottom line.”

Hendricks is aware of his reputation as a slow starter. He entered Wednesday with a career 5.17 ERA in March and April. But he made avoiding that kind of early-season slump a priority in spring training.

Hendricks faced the defending-champion Rangers in his first outing of the season and the 2024-favorite Dodgers in his second. A pitcher who relies on command, Hendricks has even less of a margin for error against the better lineups in MLB. But that doesn’t mean there’s no cause for concern.

“His command was lacking in the first outing,” manager Craig Counsell said. “And the last two, I thought he pitched like you expect him to pitch early in the game, and then it just fell apart a little bit.”

Though Counsell was more focused on Hendricks’ struggles the third time through the order, there were hints of trouble a little earlier on Wednesday.

Soft contact scored the Padres’ first two runs — nothing to worry about there. Anyways, Cubs first baseman Michael Busch erased the Padres’ lead with a two-run home run off starter Dylan Cease — the former Cubs prospect and White Sox ace, who collected his first win as a Padre on Wednesday.

In the fourth inning, however, Hendricks gave up three straight hits to right-center field — a single by Manny Machado, a double by Jurickson Profar and a triple by Ha Seong Kim — with exit velocities of 91, 102.7 and 102.3 mph.

He recovered with a quick fifth inning but then surrendered a solo homer to Jake Cronenworth and a two-run shot to Profar before exiting with no outs in the sixth.

“Mechanically, still working on a couple things,” Hendricks said. “But it feels a lot better. It feels really good. I executed a lot of pitches today – it’s just the bad ones, I’m making too many of them, and I’m not getting away with any of them. So there’s a lot of things leading into that.”

One he highlighted was being too predictable. He suspects that at least partially stems from mechanical thoughts keeping him from effectively reading swings.

Hendricks calls his own pitches. And last season that seemed to help him maintain a good rhythm. But he said the Cubs have already had discussions about the catchers at least giving him more feedback.

“Help me out some more there,” Hendricks said. “So, there needs to be, definitely, a better relationship there and not all on me. I’m just not where I need to be right now to be doing that.”

Immediately after the game, Hendricks didn’t have a clear sense of what he needed to do before his next start to right the ship.

“I can’t lie about that,” he said. “I would have been doing it now. So, a little bit of a search process, for sure. I know who I am, though, at the end of the day. I know what my strengths are. So just have to hone in on those, lock in on that, start with that.”