The Cubs’ 5-4 win over the Royals Tuesday evening at Wrigley Field, their fifth straight victory, had a little bit of everything — strong starting pitching again, some solid defense, a couple of home runs, and yet another bad Craig Kimbrel outing to dissect.
I’ll get to that, but let’s start at the beginning.
After a 1-2-3 first inning, Kyle Hendricks gave up three straight hits in the second, giving the Royals their first lead of the series at 1-0. After a visit from Tommy Hottovy, Hendricks retired the next three hitters without incident, and the Royals’ lead thus lasted about five minutes.