Coming out of the four-day All-Star break, Cubs manager David Ross elected to keep right-hander Kyle Hendricks on regular rest and start him against the Red Sox on Friday at Wrigley Field.
That made Hendricks, who had a no-decision against the Yankees in the last game before the break, the first Cubs pitcher to start consecutive games in a season since Carlos Zambrano in 2007.
‘‘There’s a lot of factors in the whole thing,’’ Ross said before the game. ‘‘I’d rather not walk through all of them. But, yeah, I feel confident with Kyle taking the ball and keeping him on [normal] rest. He probably has the least amount of innings so far [among Cubs starters].’’
It didn’t work out the way the Cubs would have hoped. The Red Sox, who began the night 22nd in the majors with 94 home runs, slugged four solo homers against Hendricks — two by Rafael Devers and one each by Adam Duvall and Triston Casas — in the first four innings of an 8-3 victory. That tied for the most Hendricks (3-4) had allowed in a start in his career.
‘‘You’ve gotta learn something from every [start],’’ Hendricks said. ‘‘Mostly, move on to the next one because I really feel like I still executed a lot of pitches. Made a lot of good pitches, just got beat tonight. . . . You’ve got to tip your cap. They put some really good swings on some good pitches.’’
Given Hendricks’ solid work so far, Ross wasn’t overly concerned by this outlier.
‘‘Just . . . throw it in the trash,’’ Ross said. ‘‘First bad start he’s had really since he’s been back. Couple of balls I thought got up in the zone maybe a little bit.’’
Hendricks left after 4 2/3 innings with the Cubs trailing 5-2. He allowed five runs (all earned) and eight hits with no walks and five strikeouts.
Justin Turner slugged the Red Sox’ fifth homer of the game, a two-run shot against Mark Leiter Jr. in the seventh, and Yu Chang hit their sixth homer against Javier Assad in the ninth.
Cody Bellinger hit his 10th and 11th homers, both solo shots to left-center, for the Cubs. Their other run came courtesy of back-to-back doubles by Tucker Barnhart and Mike Tauchman in the third.
Swanson’s return
Shortstop Dansby Swanson (left heel) is eligible to come off the injured list Sunday, but whether he will remains to be seen.
‘‘We’ll continue to assess him and test him out [Friday] and [Saturday] to see how he feels,’’ Ross said. ‘‘I think it’s hopefully soon. I don’t know if I’m ready to say Sunday.
‘‘He wants to be in there, and he’s gonna push the envelope and be back in there as soon as he possibly can. . . . I’ll probably have a better update [Saturday].’’
Learning opportunity
Left-hander Justin Steele, the lone Cubs All-Star who made the trip to Seattle with right-hander Marcus Stroman taking a break and Swanson on the IL, spent much of his time talking baseball with other players.
His favorite?
‘‘[The Dodgers’] Clayton Kershaw was one that I was really looking forward to actually getting to know,’’ Steele said. ‘‘I grew up watching him. Hall of Fame lefty.’’
In the fold
The Cubs have signed their first-round draft pick, Maryland shortstop Matt Shaw, according to Baseball America’s Jim Callis.
Shaw’s signing bonus of $4,848,500 was full value for the No. 13 slot.
