Chicago Cubs: Kyle Hendricks earns historical opening day win

Chicago Cubs ace Kyle Hendricks earned a history-making Opening Day win over the Brewers.

It was a long time coming, but the Chicago Cubs took center stage at Wrigley Field for their Opening Day bout with the Milwaukee Brewers. After months of uncertainty, it was great to have baseball back.

Milwaukee came into Wrigley without much recent success there, averaging just over two runs per game more often than not over the past year. Friday night, it was the Brewers’ Brandon Woodruff who took the mound against the Cubs.

Last year, in 22 starts for the Brewers, Woodruff went 11-3 with a 3.62 ERA and struck out 143. Against the Cubs on Opening Day 2020, he went five innings pitched and gave up two runs while striking out five batters.

As for the Cubs, it was one heck of a performance by Kyle Hendricks. The Cubs ace went all nine innings, striking out nine batters and giving up just three hits — and zero walks.

The big piece of history made, of course, was Hendricks’ complete game shutout. It was the first complete game shutout on Opening Day, for the Cubs, since 1974 when Bill Bonham accomplished that feat.

Not only did Hendricks make Cubs, history, he helped the MLB achieve something special as well. Per ESPN Stats and Info, this was the first Opening Day that the MLB saw three complete games since 1993, when there were four. The New York Yankees’ Gerrit Cole and Washington Nationals’ Max Scherzer also finished their matchup before it was shortened on Thursday night due to a rain delay.

Hendricks was strong out of the gate on Friday, striking out the side in the 4th inning. Late in the game, when the Cubs were down to their final out, first-year manager David Ross came out to the mound. While the announcers were curious whether or not Ross would pull Hendricks before he had a chance at his last out for the complete game, it was merely a check-in.

Ross is not Joe Maddon — that’s for certain. Most would assume Hendricks would have been gone by the seventh inning if it was Maddon’s team, still. But, that’s not the case. Rossy gave Hendricks his full trust and it paid off in full bloom as the ace made a little bit of club history.

An interesting tidbit, here: Hendricks did not have a single pitch go above 90 MPH — for the entirety of the game. That’s pretty astonishing. He was as controlled as we’ve ever seen him; truly lights out.

Saturday, the Cubs and Brewers square off at 12:05 PM in their second of this opening 3-game series and finish it off on Sunday at 1:20 PM. Then, they begin a 4-game road set against the Cincinnati Reds. For now, they’re off to a positive start at 1-0 and carry momentum into the weekend.