Horton hatching goose eggs to steady Cubs' banged-up rotation

CHICAGO -- While the Cubs keep recovering from the injury bug that has bitten their rotation all season, Cade Horton continues to provide a stabilizing force.

It didn’t quite look to be going that way after Horton’s June 27 outing in Houston, though. In just four innings that day, Horton set single-game career-worst marks in runs allowed (seven, all earned), hits (eight) and walks (four). That was the lowest point of his short big league career, but his skipper also felt he learned from that experience.

“I think he realized he probably got a little overamped in that start and [thought about], ‘Does extra effort help me?’” manager Craig Counsell said. “He was able to process that super quickly and make the necessary adjustments, and that's clear-headed. The ability to make a fast adjustment is an example of a great, clear-headed competitor. You see those things and you see them happen so quickly, it's impressive.”

Horton has mostly found success on the mound since that game, and the 23-year-old rookie right-hander’s latest impressive performance came Wednesday afternoon. Facing the Reds for the first time, Horton tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out six while allowing just two hits and no free passes in Chicago’s 6-1 victory over Cincinnati at Wrigley Field.

The outing extended Horton’s scoreless streak to 23 1/3 innings. The bullpen provided 3 1/3 frames of one-run ball -- including an immaculate inning from new reliever Andrew Kittredge -- and the offense tacked on some big runs late, but Horton led the way as the Cubs avoided a series sweep to the Reds.

“Cade was awesome, just the strike-throwing ability,” Counsell said. “I saw 56 strikes in 67 pitches. That's top-end stuff, and it's quality stuff. That's a good formula for success.”

Horton -- who now owns a 3.18 ERA, down from 4.80 after that outing against the Astros -- hasn’t allowed a run since the fourth inning of his start against the Twins on July 9. Since then, he has thrown four consecutive outings of at least five innings without yielding a score.

“Taking it one batter at a time, just attacking and really slowing the game down. That's been the biggest thing,” Horton said of what has been instrumental to this run. “When there's traffic on the bases, just focusing on attacking the hitter and not worrying too much about what's going on around me and just being locked into the target.”

Horton seemed to be firing on all cylinders Wednesday, and he thought it “was the best my delivery has felt.” The two hits tied a career low, the six strikeouts tied a career high and he didn’t walk a batter for the first time since May 16 (his second start in MLB).

Of course, with Chicago monitoring Horton’s workload, his day ended after just those 67 pitches. Counsell called it a credit to Horton’s strike throwing that he got 17 outs on that low of a pitch count.

Counsell could’ve easily let Horton keep throwing given how efficient he’d been. But considering Horton has already thrown his most innings in a professional season, with 108 1/3 between the Majors and Minors -- on top of not pitching after May last season due to injury -- the Cubs will continue to be cautious.

“We want a healthy Cade Horton,” Counsell said. “We want a strong Cade Horton for the rest of the season, so we're going to have to make some tough decisions. That's just part of it, and it's the right thing to do for the team and for Cade.”

Horton staying healthy is important in the context of the injuries Chicago’s rotation has suffered. Justin Steele went down for the year in April, Shota Imanaga missed nearly two months of action, Jameson Taillon hasn’t pitched since the end of June and Javier Assad hasn’t pitched at all this year. Then, Trade Deadline acquisition Michael Soroka went down after just two innings Monday.

While a Soroka return is still “to be determined,” the Cubs hope to get Assad and Taillon back soon as the team nears the stretch run of the season. But while those two have been out, Horton has fortunately given Chicago one fewer concern in the rotation over the past month-plus.

With the success he’s having and the experience he’s gaining, if Horton can stay as fresh and healthy as possible, how big of an impact could he make on the Cubs come October?

“He's making a big impact right now. That's what's important,” Counsell said. “We got a long way to go. He's making a really big impact right now.”