Horton unhittable, but bullpen, lack of offense costly for Cubs
There was good news and bad news to the Cubs' series finale against Atlanta on Wednesday.
The bad news was another bullpen failure. Drew Pomeranz surrendered a 3-run homer in the seventh and Taylor Rogers also gave up a long ball as the Braves rallied to win 5-1 and avoid a sweep at Wrigley Field.
The good news will carry on for several years, if all goes well. Rookie Cade Horton continued to be one of the best pitchers in baseball during the second half. He tossed 5 innings without allowing a hit. But in the name of caution, he left the mound after throwing 75 pitches.
“It has its pros and cons,” Horton said after the game. “I'm feeling really good right now. I'm bouncing back really well. And I think that is because I'm at 75 pitches. So just continuing to stay healthy is the main thing. But yeah, obviously, I want to go out there and give seven when I can.”
It's the right call. Horton threw less than half a season of college baseball at Oklahoma in 2022. Last year he pitched just 34 innings total due to a lat injury. This season he's closing in on 100 innings pitched.
His ERA since the all-star break dropped to 0.77 with his latest performance. Clearly, if the Cubs are going to make a playoff run, Horton needs to be a big part of it. Manager Craig Counsell made it clear the 75-pitch limit will remain in place.
“I feel like I'd much rather be healthy for the postseason than go out there for the sixth or seventh in early September,” Horton said.
So what is it that makes Horton so effective. He obviously throws hard, has a variety of effective pitches and stays in the strike zone. Why do hitters make so little hard contact?
“Because he's nasty,” catcher Reese McGuire said. “He's got the fastball moving at 97 with the cut on it, and he's constantly pounding the strike zone, coming right after hitters. We're in 0-1 in a lot of counts, so we're able to use all of his weapons right away, get right to his nasty slider and the change-up.”
Counsell was a bit more detailed with his explanation.
“Well, I mean, it's 96, 97 (mph),” Counsell said. “It's a little bit of a unique action on the fastball. It's got some cut. He can kind of move his fastball both ways. He can cut it and sink it at a really high velocity, which is difficult for hitters. The breaking ball is a good pitch, and it's that's enough.
“Then there's just an attack mentality. It's fun to watch, man. It's been a really, really impressive start to a major-league career and he's doing a heck of a job.”
Horton is closing in on locking up NL rookie of the year. In Cubs lore he's drawing comparisons to both Mark Prior as a young phenom and Jake Arrieta as a guy who is unhittable late in the season.
Horton feels like the 75-pitch limit has probably made him more effective, because he knows he can't afford to waste throws. Matt Olson had the only success against Horton in the first inning when he drew a 10-pitch walk.
“That was a really good at-bat by him,” Horton said. “He spit on a lot of good pitches. It kind of goes back to the 75-pitch thing. It's like, 'Well, he's taken 10 of them, so if I end up walking him, so be it. I can get the next guy.'”
The Cubs lineup, without Kyle Tucker (calf tightness) or Pete Crow-Armstrong (rest), was punchless. The one run they did score in the second inning came with help from a two-base error on an errant throw.
Ha-Seong Kim delivered the 3-run homer to give Atlanta the lead. The Cubs missed a chance to increase their lead over San Diego for the National League's top wild card to five games.
By finishing as the top wild card, the Cubs would host all three games of a wild-card series. A win there would almost certainly mean a divisional series against Milwaukee.