CHICAGO (670 The Score) – After working through a couple stressful frames without any incident in the Cubs' playoff opener Wednesday, right-hander Kyle Hendricks faded in the seventh inning. It left the Cubs on the brink of elimination.
After back-to-back one-out singles by the Marlins, Hendricks allowed a go-ahead three-run homer to Corey Dickerson, which put the Marlins up 3-1 and left the Cubs with little hope as their offense was again meager in a 5-1 loss in Game 1 of the best-of-three wild-card round series. Hendricks had scattered two hits over six scoreless innings, working around a two-on, no-out jam in the fifth with the help of a double play and then avoiding damage after the Marlins led off the sixth with a double.
First-year manager David Ross had veteran relievers Craig Kimbrel and Jeremy Jeffress warming up but chose to ride Hendricks in the pivotal moment of the seventh inning. Miguel Rojas and Chad Wallach hit the singles to set up the lefty-swinging Dickerson against the righty Hendricks.
"When you look at the inning progressing, you are going to give him Wallach and then look at Dickerson and start to talk through the lefty-and-righty matchup," Ross said. "With the three-batter minimum, you take a hard look at it. I trusted Kyle all season long. You go back and look at the history of him, and there was no real damage. There were pretty good numbers against Dickerson for Kyle."
Hendricks threw 106 pitches but didn't feel fatigued, he said.
"I was still feeling strong," Hendricks said. "I had made good pitches to Dickerson all day long. That wasn't a bad pitch. He just jumped on it. He was just sitting on it and didn't miss it. He put a really good swing on it. There is really nothing you can do there. It's unfortunate."
Jesus Aguilar later followed with a two-run homer off Jeffress in the seventh inning. The Marlins were making their first playoff appearance since 2003, when they won the World Series. In a twist of fate, the Marlins' five runs in the seventh marked the first time that they'd scored five runs in an inning of a playoff game since Oct. 14, 2003 – when they beat the Cubs in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series in what's known as the Steve Bartman game.
Hendricks got little help from his offense, which mustered just four hits and Ian Happ's solo homer in the fifth inning. Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara threw 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball.
The Cubs now face a win-or-go-home Game 2 on Thursday, when Cy Young contender Yu Darvish will start for them.
"We just come back tomorrow and the same plan of the team at-bats," Happ said. "There is a lot put on one game in a situation like this. We have not let one game dictate our approach to the year. We never let that happen and it hasn't since I have been here. There is lot of confidence in the clubhouse, and I think it will continue."
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
