CHICAGO -- All eyes were on Red Sox starting pitcher Garrett Crochet ahead of Sunday’s finale, but Cade Horton outdueled the American League Cy Young candidate as the Cubs’ rookie tossed 5 2/3 innings of scoreless ball.
Unfortunately for the Cubs, it wasn’t enough in their 6-1 loss at Wrigley Field as Ryan Pressly, Drew Pomeranz and Ethan Roberts all served up homers after Horton’s departure. Chicago (59-40) won the first two games of the series before letting the finale slip away late.
“Cade pitched really well,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He did a nice job. He got us into the sixth inning. Offensively, we did a decent job. A lot of our rallies were, unfortunately, two-out rallies, and we were just missing the hit. We hit a couple of balls hard, a couple of balls into the wind, but couldn’t get anything to fall or get out of the park.”
Horton did his best to keep the Cubs in Sunday’s game, on a day when runs were hard to come by for Chicago’s offense against Crochet. Despite allowing three leadoff walks, Horton gave up just two hits and rarely got into trouble.
More importantly, Horton continued to display his swing-and-miss stuff. Although he struck out just four batters, the Cubs pitcher generated an impressive 15 whiffs. The right-hander has generated three straight outings with at least 12 whiffs.
Horton relied on his four-seam fastball throughout Sunday’s start, but his changeup and sweeper both played well off of that pitch. The rookie generated five whiffs on his fastball, three on his changeup, and six with his sweeper.
“When you got Crochet over there, you know there's probably not going to be a lot of runs scored,” Horton said. “So, just trying to navigate that and slow the game down and just really attack the guy that's in front of me. Get a double-play ball or something like that. Just focus on the pitch that's in front of me.”
Horton has gone through the ups and downs that rookies usually go through during their first Major League season. He hasn’t completed five innings in three of his past five starts, and is still searching for more consistency on the mound.
However, the Cubs have seen Horton’s growth over the past few months. Outings like the one against the Guardians on July 3 -- when he threw seven scoreless innings -- and the one on Sunday showcase what type of pitcher he can be in the big leagues.
“The pitch mix is really, really good,” said Ian Happ, who logged the Cubs' only RBI of the game. “The changeup has really gotten good against lefties, kind of neutralizing them with the fastball command. He walked a few guys to start a couple of innings, but just the presence on the mound to get out of those innings and keep making pitches. I think his mentality is really impressive. That’s the thing that really sticks out.”
Sunday’s start is not the first time the Cubs rookie has gone toe-to-toe with a Cy Young candidate this season. Horton also threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings with four strikeouts opposite the Pirates’ Paul Skenes on June 13.
While it’s easy to get amped up for a start dueling against one of the best pitchers in the game, Horton tries not to let that get in the way of what he’s trying to do on the mound.
“Facing those guys, I don’t need to get more amped up,” Horton said. “I think I actually need to slow myself down more because, naturally, the environment and facing off [against] those guys, the energy is going to be there. So, it’s all about slowing the game down and controlling it from the jump.”
As the 23-year-old navigates through his rookie campaign, he has found himself leaning on both Matthew Boyd and Jameson Taillon. Horton has seen the success both veteran pitchers have had in their careers, and learning from them has been extremely important for him across his first 11 starts.
“It’s been huge talking to Taillon and Boyd,” Horton said. “Just picking their minds about their style of pitching and what they're trying to do up there. So, that's been really huge having them. When this game gets hard, just being able to talk to them and them helping me out has been really huge.”