Kyle Hendricks gives up 4 first-inning home runs as the Chicago Cubs lose 13-4 to the Atlanta Braves in an abysmal ‘Sunday Night Baseball’ debut
CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs made their 2021 “Sunday Night Baseball” debut against the Atlanta Braves, and the game was basically over before the opening cliche from ESPN analyst Alex Rodriguez.
One day after a 13-4 win over the Braves, Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks served up four home runs in a six-run first inning on the way to a 13-4 loss before 10,343 on a comfortable, 60-degree night at Wrigley Field.
The Braves took two out of three in the series, leaving the 6-9 Cubs in last place in the National League Central.
Manager David Ross said before the game it’s not a distraction for the players to be in the Sunday night game, especially in the COVID-19 era when media are not allowed in the clubhouse.
“It’s a typical game, and every game is on TV,” Ross said. “I don’t know how it is a distraction. … There’s not extra media around because of COVID. Maybe it used to be more of a big deal. It’s kind of a bonus — you get to sleep in on Sunday and have a night game on the weekend.”
The Cubs probably should’ve stayed in bed all day.
Hendricks (0-2), who was scratched from his start in Milwaukee last Tuesday when he wasn’t feeling well, gave up seven runs on seven hits and three walks in four innings.
Freddie Freeman, Travis d’Arnaud, Ehire Adrianza and Guillermo Heredia homered off Hendricks in the first, and any thoughts of the Cubs building momentum from Saturday’s win were immediately dashed.
The last time the Cubs served up four home runs in an inning was July 4, 2010, against the Cincinnati Reds, when Ted Lilly gave up three and Jeff Stevens one in the seventh inning of a 14-3 Cubs loss at Wrigley Field.
That game took 2 hours, 40 minutes to complete, while Sunday night’s game clocked in at 3:26.
After entering the game with a 3.00 ERA and one home run allowed, Hendricks left with a 6.92 ERA and five homers allowed in 14 innings. He has endured two terrible starts that sandwiched a strong outing against the Milwaukee Brewers in which he threw six shutout innings.
But misery loves company, and Cubs reliever Ryan Tepera — who is available after appealing his three-game suspension for throwing at Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff — was almost as awful as Hendricks in only one inning.
Tepera entered in the sixth when the Cubs still harbored thoughts of a late comeback, trailing 7-3. In a brutal seven-batter stretch, he gave up a double, an RBI single, another double, hit a batter, allowed a sacrifice fly, hit another batter and served up a grand slam to Heredia to make it 13-3.
Ross wrote out the same lineup he used Saturday in the Cubs’ 13-4 win, their best offensive showing of the season by a wide margin. The team batting average jumped from .166 to .184 in one day, though the Cubs still have three regulars hitting under .200: Ian Happ (.167), Joc Pederson (.149) and David Bote (.171).
Anthony Rizzo hit a pair of solo home runs for the Cubs, doubling his RBI total to four, but once again the Cubs failed to do much damage when they weren’t hitting the long ball. Twelve of their 13 runs Saturday came on six home runs.
