A new day: Kittredge recovers, Horton stays strong as Cubs roll past Reds
When Andrew Kittredge walked off the mound Tuesday after giving up 4 runs, the boos could be heard from Belmont Avenue to Irving Park Road.
Roughly an hour later, Kittredge walked out of Wrigley Field attracting no notice, even though Waveland Avenue was still bustling. He and his wife, Tobey, had their two young sons in tow, one riding in a stroller.
“They make it easy to swallow the bad ones,” Kittredge said. “That's the cool thing about having little kids is they don't really know what's going on and they're just happy to see me. Makes it harder to let the bad ones sit.”
Given another chance to take the mound in the seventh inning Wednesday afternoon, Kittredge achieved a rarity by tossing an immaculate inning — striking out the side on 9 pitches — as the Cubs salvaged a 6-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
“Things don't go your way the night before, and you're asked to come out in the same situation, and you deliver,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “I love that. That's what being a big-league player and being a big-league reliever (is all about), you have to have a short memory.”
Kittredge supported another brilliant outing by Cade Horton (6-3), who ran his scoreless innings streak to 23⅓, longest by a rookie in franchise history.
Horton mowed down the Reds by being in the zone, with 56 of his 67 pitches going for strikes. He said a five-inning, 75-pitch limit in the minors helped him learn to be efficient.
“I think today was the best of my delivery's felt,” Horton said. “I felt like I was on time and just driving the ball to the target. So just continue building off that, being fearless in the strike zone and going right after guys.”
He could have pitched longer, but since Horton's season ended in May last year due to a lat injury, the plan is to take things cautiously with the hope he'll stay at this level into the playoffs.
“We want a healthy Cade Horton, we want a strong Cade Horton for the rest of the season,” Counsell said. “So we're going to have to make some tough decisions and that's just part of it. And it's the right thing to do for the team and for Cade.”
The other standout was designated hitter Seiya Suzuki. He was hitting just .143 since the all-star break and was given the night off Tuesday as sort of a mental break.
He came back Wednesday ready to make contact. He had the two hardest-hit balls of the game and three of the top six, according to StatCast. Suzuki started with a 109.4 mile per hour single, added a 105.3 mph sacrifice fly, then smashed a 110.4 mph home run, his 27th of the season. Dansby Swanson and Ian Happ also homered.
“I would say I'm always looking at my balance when I'm in the box,” Suzuki said through translator Edwin Stanberry. “Recently, it was a little off, but I think today it felt good. I stayed aggressive and the results were good.”
Suzuki walked in his fourth at-bat. The Cubs were facing the Reds best starter, all-star left-hander Andrew Abbott (8-2).
“(Suzuki) had four great at-bats today,” Counsell said. “Sometimes just a day of not having to go battle is helpful, and he locked it in and that was huge for our offense to see that.”
By salvaging the final game against Cincinnati, the Cubs still have not been swept in a series three games or longer this season. They've gone 9-9 since the all-star break, which isn't terrible considering how much the hitting has dropped off.