Game Recap: Horton continues to impress as Cubs take down Blue Jays

Dan Hamilton - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 3 hours ago

TORONTO - As bad as things have been for the Chicago Cubs (68-51) since the All-Star break, they are still the only team in baseball that hasn't lost three straight games. There is a reason why this team has the best record in the bigs coming off a loss, but as good as that sounds, the losses have been piling up much more frequently.

Looking to even up their series with the Toronto Blue Jays (70-51) at the Rogers Center on Wednesday night, the Cubs turned to their rookie and now their stopper, Cade Horton, as he looked to keep his franchise record for scoreless innings by a rookie going. Horton has been on quite a roll as of late, tossing 23 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings heading into this start, which is a franchise record for a rookie.

Not only that, but Horton is starting to look like the ace the Cubs thought he could be, and this is a game where you started to see why, as Horton pitched 5 2/3 innings, striking out a career-high eight batters in what was a 4-1 Cubs win. Horton was charged with an earned run as his scoreless streak ended at 29 2/3 innings, but he made a very good hitting lineup look silly more often than not.

Opposing him was fellow right-hander Kevin Gausman, who is no slouch himself and ranks among the top 10 active pitchers in strikeouts. This was a strange start for Gausman, who pitched more to contact in this one, walking one and striking out three in seven innings, allowing two runs in what was a tough loss for him.

To show how dominant Horton was in this one, the right-hander retired the first 10 hitters he faced while also taking a no-hitter into his final inning of work. This was the first time since early in the season that the Blue Jays' hitters looked lost as they had no answers for Horton. His effort alone made things a lot easier on the Cubs' offense, and with Michael Busch connecting for a solo shot in the third, it was the Cubs jumping in front for good, 1-0.

The long ball continued to play a role for the Cubs in the fourth with Matt Shaw adding his 10th homer of the season in the fourth as Chicago opened up a 2-0 lead. The Shaw homer goes down as the game-winning hit as the Cubs continue to sport one of the best records in baseball when they hit at least one homer in a game.

Still holding a 2-0 lead in the sixth, Horton allowed just one base runner up to this point, and with one down in the sixth, he continued to dominate the Blue Jays. One batter later, the no-hit bid was over as Andres Gimenez came through with a single up the middle to put the second runner of the day on base for the Blue Jays.

Horton came within one out of finishing the sixth, only to walk Bo Bichette, as this was the first real scoring chance for Toronto. Thrust into a tight spot was Andrew Kittredge, and with Vladimir Guerrero at the plate, this was the key at bat of the game as one swing could tie things up, let alone put the Jays on top. Guerrero came through as he has most of the season, as his RBI double pulled the Jays within 2-1 and kept the pressure on Kittredge.

That was as close as things would get for Toronto as Kittredge managed to strand both Bichette and Guerrero in scoring position as the Cubs maintained the lead 2-1. With Gausman out of the game following the seventh, this was going to come down to the bullpens, and early on, the Cubs' pen was up for the challenge against this offense.

Then came the eighth, where the Cubs not only put the pressure on Braydon Fisher, but put the game away as a leadoff walk to Shaw set the offense up, only to move into scoring position with a walk. That was followed up by a Miguel Amaya infield single as the Cubs had runners on the corners and no outs.

Amaya would go down behind first after legging out that hit, landing awkwardly on first base and suffering what looked to be a serious leg injury. Craig Counsell revealed that Amaya would indeed hit the IL again, but X-rays were negative; it was the best possible scenario for a play that looked so ugly when it happened.

With the top of the order coming to bat and a chance to put the game away, Busch did his part with a sacrifice fly as the Cubs extended their lead to 3-1. Reese McGuire also tagged up on that play to reach second base, and that alone came in handy with Seiya Suzuki tacking on an RBI single immediately after to put the Cubs in front 4-1.

That was the final run of the game for either side as Brad Keller and Daniel Palencia retired all six hitters they faced to give the Cubs a 4-1 win to even up the series. Chicago had six hits in the victory, with Nico Hoerner leading the way with two. The Cubs will look for the series win on Thursday when they send their Ace, Matthew Boyd, to the mound against the bulldog Max Scherzer.