CHICAGO — Kyle Hendricks dominated over six scoreless innings to win his eighth straight start, Kris Bryant homered and the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians 7-1 to avoid a two-game sweep.
Willson Contreras and Patrick Wisdom also went deep, and the Cubs (41-33) won for only the third time in nine games. Hendricks extended the best streak of his career and the longest by a Cubs pitcher since Jake Arrieta won nine consecutive starts to bridge the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
The right-hander scattered four hits and struck out five without a walk. He also tied Cleveland's Aaron Civale for the major league lead with 10 wins.
Rookie Eli Morgan struck out nine over five innings for the Indians (40-31), but could not get an out in what ended up being a four-run sixth inning for Chicago. The Tribe went 0 for 6 with men in scoring position (compared to 4 for 7 for the Cubs), with its only run coming on an eighth-inning fielder's choice by Amed Rosario.
Cleveland is off Wednesday before heading to Minnesota to wrap up this nine-game road trip. J.C. Mejia (1-2, 6.11 ERA) will start Thursday against former Twins All-Star José Berríos (7-2, 3.56).
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