Bryant’s bat, Hendricks’ arm keep Cubs on target
CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs are closing in on the National League Central title and have their sights set on another deep playoff run.
It would help if Kyle Hendricks keeps pitching like this. They’ll take a few more big home runs from Kris Bryant, too.
Hendricks went eight innings in another strong start, Bryant connected, and the Cubs moved closer to the division title while dealing another hit to St. Louis’ playoff hopes, beating the Cardinals 8-4 on Friday.
“This is what you look for,” Hendricks said. “These are the games you want to play in, games that have meaning like this. That’s why we play the game.”
The Cubs came into the final weekend of the regular season with a franchise-record fourth straight trip to the postseason assured and their third division title in a row in sight. They hold a onegame lead over Milwaukee atop the NL Central.
St. Louis matched a season high with its fourth straight loss after being swept the Brewers. The Cardinals trail Los Angeles by two games for the second wild card.
Hendricks (14-11) gave up two runs and seven hits. The right-hander is
5-1 with a 1.52 ERA in his past seven outings and has thrown a career-high 199 innings.
Bryant made it 3-0 with a long solo drive to center against Adam Wainwright in the fourth.
That gave the 2016 NL MVP two homers in 27 games and 13 total in a season marked by injuries. The Bonanza product missed the previous two games because of a bruised left wrist after getting hit by a pitch and was on the disabled list two times this year because of left shoulder inflammation.
Daniel Murphy had two hits, two runs and an RBI. He singled and scored in a two-run first, doubled and came around in the fifth and added a sacrifice fly in the seventh.