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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.