Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Cubs SP Kyle Hendricks 'shut down' for two to three weeks with shoulder strain

The Chicago Cubs will be without injured starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks for the foreseeable future and perhaps the rest of the season. 

On Wednesday, the Cubs announced they were shutting Hendricks down from his throwing program for the next few weeks. Manager David Ross said it would be two to three weeks before Hendricks can play catch again. 

Hendricks left his last start on July 5 after throwing 69 pitches through three innings of work. The Cubs placed Hendricks on the 15-day injured list with a shoulder strain the following day. 

The 32-year-old is having one of the worst seasons of his nine-year career. Over 16 starts, Hendricks is 4-6 with a 4.80 ERA. He's allowed 45 earned runs off 85 hits in 84.1 innings. 

Unfortunately, Hendricks had been pitching well ahead of his most recent game last week, coming off two solid outings against the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds. Hendricks pitched 7.1 scoreless innings in a 3-0 win over the Cardinals before allowing just two runs off two hits in a 15-7 win over the Reds. Over his first 13 starts, he pitched past the fifth inning only twice. 

With the Cubs since 2014, Hendricks has pitched in 223 career games for Chicago, compiling an 87-61 record with a 3.46 ERA. 

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