Tuesday night, Cubs veteran Kyle Hendricks appeared to be pitching Thairo Estrada to the top of the strike zone with a pitch in the seventh inning. The Giants second baseman swung, and just in time, the offering dropped down sharply, running low and outside.

A piece of Estrada’s bat was stolen by the baseball, which sent the shard hurtling up the third base line and into foul territory. The Cubs lost 5-1 at Oracle Park, but Hendricks gave a good seven-inning effort, leaning heavily on the curveball that has once again turned into a true weapon.

Hendricks remarked, “It’s definitely the most confidence I’ve had in my curveball in my career.” “It’s obvious to me how it’s altering the game.”

Even with another solid outing by a member of the rotation, the Cubs ended the night six games below.500 (37–43), marking yet another painful night for the team. Against six San Francisco pitchers, the offense was silent, and any hopes of a comeback were dashed when Chicago’s struggling bullpen gave up three runs in the eighth inning.

Even though the Cubs were disappointed with the outcome, Hendricks persevered in getting back on track following a turbulent start to the season that necessitated a spell in the bullpen. With two starts to support the injury-married rotation in his five June appearances, the 34-year-old right-hander now has a 1.27 ERA in 21 1/3 innings.

And at this moment, Hendricks has discovered an alternative route to success.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell said, “That’s a credit to him at this point in his career to kind of come up with something new and really coming up with something that’s changing his starts.”

Hendricks used his curveball 26% of the time (26 out of 100 pitches) against the Giants. In terms of curve % and number thrown in a single start for the righty, that is the second-highest combination. On September 18, 2020, during a start against the Twins, Hendricks threw 29 curveballs (27.9%).

Hendricks produced his first strong start since September 21 of last season, holding San Francisco to only two runs in the second inning.

Hendricks’ curveball percentage dropped to 3.5% the previous season as he almost solely relied on his changeup and sinker. Although he only intended to utilize the breaking ball 6.5% of the time in April and then at an 8.4% pace in May, he intended to employ the curve more this season, concentrating on the pitch during the winter and in Spring Training.

The season had started off with a sensation that wasn’t quite right. It was not moving correctly, according to Hendricks. That kind of came with it when I started to control the baseball and get back into the zone. I had my curveball under control. It became more pointed. It was not going to fly out of my grasp. After that, the other parts arrived.

Hendricks threw his curveball at a 17.9% rate in June going into Tuesday’s game, and he increased it against the Giants. He attributed the recent, more pronounced movement to a grip modification he worked on with assistant pitching coach Daniel Moskos. Additionally, Hendricks gave Miguel Amaya, the catcher, a ton of credit.

Hendricks stated, “Miggy’s been the key behind it.”

Hendricks called his own pitches last season using the PitchCom system and continued to do so at the start of this year. In his first seven turns out of the rotation, he posted a 10.57 ERA and found himself in the ‘pen for the first time in his career. One theme throughout his starts early in the season was the issue of predictability.

Hendricks has since handed the pitch-calling duties to Amaya, trusting the catcher to read swings and focus on sequencing. That took one component off the pitcher’s mental plate and led to some pitch decisions that have even surprised him. Hendricks decided that if he was surprised by the call, the batter probably would be caught off-guard, too.

One result has been a surge in curveballs.

“What has made him so good forever,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said of Hendricks, “is his ability to be one step ahead of opposing hitters and know how to mix his stuff. But it’s also the hardest thing to do — when you’re struggling and you’re working on other things mechanically, or trying to think through things — to also be sharp and on top of that stuff.

“When that happens, and you’re calling your own game, you forget about, ‘Oh the curveball, this is going to be a great time to use it.’”