Update #3 (10:22 PM EDT): Not only is the no-hit bid over, the shutout bid is over, too. Jeremy Hazelbaker led off the ninth inning with a no-doubt solo home run to right field, reducing the Cardinals’ deficit to 4-1.
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Update #2 (10:06 PM EDT): Hendricks got Randal Grichuk to fly out to left field, then struck out Yadier Molina. He walked Jedd Gyorko on four pitches, but bounced back to get Jhonny Peralta to pop out into foul territory. The no-hitter is intact with one inning left to play. Hendricks has thrown 93 pitches.
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Update (9:53 PM EDT): Hendricks got Kolten Wong and Stephen Piscotty to ground out, then struck out Matt Carpenter to end the seventh inning. Two innings to go. He’s at 78 pitches.
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Cubs starter and National League Cy Young Award candidate Kyle Hendricks is through six innings of Monday night’s start against the Cardinals and has yet to allow a hit. Hendricks has walked one and struck out five on 66 pitches.
Hendricks entered Monday night’s start with a major league best 2.07 ERA with a 14-7 record and a 145/41 K/BB ratio in 165 innings.
The Cubs’ offense has provided Hendricks four runs of support off of Mike Leake. Ben Zobrist hit a solo homer in the second, Anthony Rizzo hit an RBI single in the third, and Dexter Fowler hit a two-run homer in the fifth.
Cubs starter Jake Arrieta has the only no-hitter of the 2016 season, doing so on April 21 in a 16-0 shellacking of the Reds. The Cardinals were last victims of a no-hitter on June 1, 2012 against Mets starter Johan Santana.
We’ll keep you updated as Hendricks attempts to navigate the game’s final three innings.
