Kyle Hendricks won his fifth straight decision earlier this week, allowing three runs on six hits in seven innings against the Rockies. He walked just one while striking out 10, his second double-digit strikeout game of the season. Those 10 strikeouts jump off the page, and not only because any game with double-digit whiffs always catches the eye. In this particular instance, the 10 strikeouts serve as a capstone of Hendricks proving he’s an above-average strikeout pitcher.
An alarming trend from the previous two seasons continued through Hendricks’ first six starts this year. Over that time, he had a strikeout rate of 18.