Cy low? Hendricks’ ERA down to 2.09

CHICAGO — Miguel Montero has caught Randy Johnson and Dan Haren, who represent opposite pitching styles. He knows pitchers don’t have to throw hard to be effective, and on Tuesday night, Montero could sit back, relax and catch the Cubs’ surprise second-half ace: Kyle Hendricks.

Hendricks lowered his ERA to a Major League-best 2.09 with seven shutout innings in the Cubs’ 3-0 win over the Pirates. The right-hander is 9-1 with a 1.21 ERA at Wrigley Field, the best home ERA in baseball.

“It’s all about location,” Montero said. “It doesn’t matter ‘velo,’ it doesn’t matter anything else. Nowadays, everybody is trying to overpower everybody and they forget about the secondary stuff. He knows he doesn’t throw hard, but he locates his fastball, he locates his secondary stuff, and he works the edges and works the corners. That’s harder to hit than 97 [mph] down the middle. If you know the fastball is coming and you know the changeup is coming, and you execute your pitch, you can’t do much with it.”

The preparation Hendricks does before each start is key, and something he’s done more this season with the help of coach Mike Borzello.

“He comes in every day and does his work, and executes his game plan really good,” Anthony Rizzo said of Hendricks, who …

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