The Kyle Hendricks we’ve seen in June is nothing like the Kyle Hendricks we saw in April or May.

The veteran right-hander ended May with a 10.16 ERA and a new role out of the bullpen.

He has completely flipped a switch in June, allowing just 3 earned runs in 21.1 innings this month (1.27 ERA) with a sparkling 0.80 WHIP.

That includes 7 strong innings Tuesday night in San Francisco as the Cubs rotation continues to serve as the team’s only saving grace right now.

But even Hendricks’ effort wasn’t enough to carry the Cubs to victory as they lost 5-1. He gave up 2 runs in his 7 innings and the Giants touched up reliever Colten Brewer for 3 more runs in the bottom of the 8th inning.

The Cubs offense finished with 4 singles and 4 walks on the evening and struck out 11 times against a Giants team that was using a “bullpen game” for the second straight day.

[WATCH: Counsell address quite night from Cubs’ offense]

Due to his struggles, Hendricks was moved into the bullpen in mid-May – a role he was not familiar with at all. He made the adjustment and came out the other side an improved – and humbled – pitcher.

“I learned a ton,” Hendricks said after picking up his first win of the season last week. “Completely different perspective. I learned a lot about myself. … Those guys taught me so much down there. I feel like I got better just sitting down there and hanging out and talking to them.

“And my routine has changed now – shorter bullpen, shorter pregame warm-up. I learned that it didn’t take too much to to get loose. … I changed a lot about how I go about it. But at the end of the day, just better focus on the mound and better execution – that’s the bottom line.”

He was reinserted into the Cubs rotation when rookies Jordan Wicks and Ben Brown went down with injury. Hendricks’ first 2 starts since rejoining the rotation have come against the Giants and he has surrendered just 3 earned runs in 12.2 innings against the San Francisco lineup over the past week.

The Cubs moved Hendricks back to the rotation out of necessity but he has flourished and part of that success is simply due to better results – he had 3 strong outings out of the bullpen to begin June – that has led to improved confidence.

“Yeah totally, [confidence] definitely plays a role,” Hendricks said. “You can put as much work in and trust in your process but going out there and actually getting the results, it’s going to back what you’re doing on your side work.

“So yeah, getting some soft contact, finding some outs, having hard-hit balls right at guys – some of that is luck, too, that’s involved in the game. Confidence is always a huge thing in baseball and yeah, seeing results and getting a little confidence will definitely help anybody out.”

[WATCH: Kyle Hendricks breaks down his start against Giants]

Hendricks – who just reached 10 years of MLB service time – has always been one of the most egoless players in all of professional sports. He understands that his entire career has been zigging while the rest of the league is zagging – velocity is king now but Hendricks has found success with an average fastball/sinker below 90 mph.

He wants nothing more than to help his team win – he doesn’t care about his own stats or his role. All he cares about is putting his team in a position to win every time he takes the mound.

He’s done that in June, and part of it has been due to an increased curveball usage.

Hendricks threw his curveball 26 times out of 100 pitches Tuesday evening. That 26% is a huge increase over the 9.8% he had been throwing it at coming into the outing.

Hendricks has been feeling much more confident in his curveball of late and credits catcher Miguel Amaya with helping him find success in the right spots to utilize the breaking pitch.

The Cubs are planning on a bullpen day Wednesday, with Shota Imanaga starting the finale against the Giants Thursday afternoon. That means Jameson Taillon, Javier Assad and Justin Steele should start against the Brewers so Hendricks’ next start is a tall task: Facing the dominant Phillies offense July 2 at Wrigley Field.