3 days Ago
In the first strikeout Cubs veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks threw Sunday, catcher Miguel Amaya identified a weak spot in the Rockies’ approach. And the conviction to keep calling that high fastball, which isn’t typically highlighted in Hendricks’ sinker and changeup-heavy arsenal, exemplified Amaya’s evolution as a game-caller. “Yesterday it was playing good since the bullpen,” Amaya said Monday, before the Cubs opened a three-game series against the A’s.
“The ball was carrying. And when we punched out the first guy with that pitch, said, ‘We’re doing so much stuff down with his change up, curveball, sinker down. And that’s what they’re looking for.
’ So we started using that, and it worked for us yesterday.” When Amaya first began catching Hendricks, the veteran right-hander was calling his own game though PitchCom. He liked the rhythm it put him in, and he was successful with the setup.
Then as Hendricks struggled earlier in the year, he asked for more involvement from the catchers before eventually handing over game-calling responsibilities. “Miggy was just staying on it,” Hendricks said after the Cubs’ 6-2 win Sunday against the Rockies . “He saw where the holes were, he knew how to set him up with it, playing my fastball really well.
” En route to becoming the first Cubs pitcher to throw six innings and limit the Rockies to two hits and one run at Coors Field, Hendricks opened the bottom of the second inning with his first strikeout of the game. In a 1-2 count, the Rockies’ Ryan McMahon fouled off a curveball to keep the at-bat alive. Then Amaya called for a fastball up.
McMahon swung under it. “[The curveball] is a kind of 12-6 pitch that he has,” Amaya said of the pitch’s movement. “They’re expecting that to go down, and that fastball was rising up and was perfectly spotted where he was executing it.
” Hendricks generated eight whiffs and two foul balls on fastballs in the upper third of the strike zone or higher. “He noticed it in-game and kept going to it, talked about it in the dugout between innings, and it just kept playing,” Hendricks said. “I don’t do that a lot, obviously.
So that was a big adjustment by him and kind of kept me in the game a long time.” Busch player of the week Cubs rookie Michel Busch hit so well on the Cubs’ road trip against the Dodgers and Rockies that on Monday, MLB named him the National League Player of the Week. In the span of six games, Busch tallied four home runs, two doubles, and 11 RBI.
He posted a 1.087 slugging percentage and .480 on-base percentage.
“The consistency of what Michael has done this season has really shown up,” manager Craig Counsell said. “And it’s not surprising that he keeps coming back. There’s good stretches to come.
For everybody, it’s helpful – but as a young player, first [full] year in the league, just continuing to finish on a good note and playing well at the end of the year I think is really important.” Busch became the first Cubs player to earn player of the week honors this year and the first position player since Seiya Suzuki on April 18, 2022 . Injury update Cubs left-hander Justin Steele (left elbow tendinitis) was set to throw a light “touch and feel” bullpen Monday.
If he comes out of that session feeling good, he could return from the IL before the week is over . “We’re still progressing really well,” Counsell said. Reliever Jorge López (strained groin) joined the team Monday in Chicago after a successful Triple-A Iowa rehab assignment.
He becomes eligible to be reinstated on Wednesday..
