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Chicago Cubs' Kyle Hendricks handcuffs Philadelphia Phillies

By Jack McCarthy, The Sports Xchange
Chicago Cubs starting pitchers Kyle Hendricks. Photo by Jim Prisching/UPI
Chicago Cubs starting pitchers Kyle Hendricks. Photo by Jim Prisching/UPI | License Photo

CHICAGO -- Kyle Hendricks' objective was to keep things simple on Saturday.

The Chicago Cubs' right-hander worked efficiently, kept the counts low while pitching a five-hitter, striking out seven and walking none in a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Wrigley Field.

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"I've been having some higher pitch counts lately and this team's really aggressive," said Hendricks (3-4). "So we went into the game with a game plan ... to attack enough and keep the pitch count down.

"Just tried to keep it simple, hitting spots and it worked out."

Hendricks, who threw 104 pitches including 65 for strikes, recorded his second career complete game and first since a 3-0 victory over San Diego on May 21, 2015.

The Cubs (33-14) earned their fourth straight win and 11th series victory of the season. The Phillies (26-23) dropped their second straight and fourth in five games.

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Dexter Fowler homered while Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist each collected RBI doubles for Chicago.

The Phillies broke up the shutout in the ninth, when Freddy Galvis hit a bloop double, advanced to third on Maikel Franco's grounder and stole home on a throw to first on a dropped third strike.

"A little unusual, that happens," Hendricks said. "It was a good heads-up play, what are you going to do? I can only control what I can control and I'm happy about that."

Phillies starter Jerad Eickhoff (2-7) pitched six innings before being replaced by Andrew Bailey. Eickhoff gave up four runs on eight hits, walked one and struck out seven.

Eickoff also didn't get much offensive support.

"I don't want to take anything away from Hendricks because he's a damn good pitcher and I like him a lot," Phillies manager Pete Mackinin said. "But I feel like we took pitches we should have hit and we swung at pitches we shouldn't have swung at.

"I thought he gave us just enough -- not a lot -- but just enough pitches out over the plate and we didn't capitalize."

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The Cubs jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first when Dexter Fowler sent a 3-and-1 pitch into the left field bleachers for a leadoff home run.

Heyward followed with a double to right, advanced to third on a sacrifice and scored when Zobrist extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a two-out double to left.

Heyward struck again in the second with a two-out double over the head of left fielder David Lough.

Addison Russell scored from second to make it 3-0, but Hendricks' attempt come around from first was thwarted when Lough recovered and relayed a throw to the plate to catch Hendricks.

Eickhoff settled down after the rocky start, allowing only one base runner -- hitting Anthony Rizzo with a pitch -- over the next three innings.

But Eickhoff then got into a jam in the sixth, loading the bases with one out. Miguel Montero's grounder to first brought home Kris Bryant for a 4-0 lead, but Eickhoff escaped anything worse when Russell flied out to end the inning.

The Phillies dropped to 5-10 against Central Division opponents this season.

NOTES: Phillies SS Freddy Galvis has cleaned up his defensive act with a 44-game errorless streak. He had eight errors through his first 47 games at the position last year. ... Philadelphia has fared better against teams above .500 (15-13) than below (11-10). ... Mondays remain the worst day of the week for the Phillies this season at 0-6. ... After reaching the 100-home run milestone on Friday, Cubs C David Ross is one away from 300 career RBIs. ... The series wraps up at 1:20 p.m. CT Sunday, when the Phillies send RHP Vince Velasquez (5-1, 2.75 ERA) against Cubs RHP John Lackey (4-2, 3.38 ERA). ... Both teams spend Memorial Day at home, as the Cubs host the Dodgers while the Phillies entertain the Nationals.

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