The Cubs started out this season on a 13-3 run and many of those games were like the one they played Monday — timely hitting, excellent starting pitching. It’s a mystery why that vanished for what seemed like weeks at a time during this abbreviated season.
Fortunately, everything seemed to return Monday afternoon at Wrigley Field and the Cubs and Kyle Hendricks put together a 5-1 win over the Cardinals, increasing their lead in the NL Central to 2½ games over St. Louis with 18 games remaining. (For the Cubs, that is.