How Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks strengthened his case to start Opening Day

The Cubs haven't yet announced their Opening Day starter, but Kyle Hendricks made a strong case for himself Tuesday night.

Tuesday's intrasquad scrimmage was the closest the Cubs have had come to a real game all Summer Camp. An MLB umpiring crew joined the team on the field. The Cubs played eight innings, two more than they'd reached before. And Hendricks was dominant.

The right-hander threw over six scoreless innings. With the flexibility of an intrasquad setting, Kyle Schwarber's fly out to right was the third, but not the final, out of the sixth. News rippled through the field that they were staying out for one more batter.

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Hendricks had thrown 66 pitches – a number the Cubs could work with on opening day – but even an extra batter didn't mar his outing. Jason Heyward grounded out to first base.

Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy has put extra emphasis on in-game recovery during this three-week Summer camp.

"Obviously we want to get the pitch count ramped up," Hottovy said this week, "but getting those up and downs too is equally important to see how your body recovers in between innings and how you feel."

In that area, Hendricks has progressed further than any other Cubs pitcher.

Yu Darvish started for the opposite team Tuesday and is the other obvious candidate to start on Opening Day. But Darvish threw less than four innings and gave up a home run to Willson Contreras-it was the catcher's third homer of Summer Camp. Darvish also walked two batters, including leadoff hitter Kris Bryant in the first inning.

Still, nothing is decided.

"We might have a pending test in two days and have to shuffle our entire schedule and rotation," Hottovy said Monday. "A lot of this is going to be how we get through this next week healthy, with the testing protocols in place. And then we can start really lining up what we want to do when it starts."

The Cubs open the season against the Brewers at Wrigley Field on July 24.