Cade Horton knew the Chicago Cubs likely would struggle to score runs Friday at Wrigley Field.
The quick turnaround from a night game, the wet, misty conditions and, most notably, National League Cy Young Award contender Paul Skenes on the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The matchup didn’t faze Horton, who has pitched in big games before, whether in the College World Series with Oklahoma in 2022 or making his MLB debut in New York against a tough Mets lineup.
Horton matched Skenes pitch by pitch, inning by inning Friday, tossing 5 2/3 shutout innings while scattering three hits, walking one and striking out four Pirates. The Cubs couldn’t get much going either against Skenes — who held them scoreless in five innings — and the Pirates bullpen in a 2-1 loss in 10 innings.
“I’m not scared of the moment, I love the moment,” Horton said. “Going out there and competing, it’s all about one pitch.”
“Iron sharpens iron. Being able to compete against him was really fun and hopefully we’re doing it for a lot of years.”
Oneil Cruz’s fielder’s choice off reliever Brad Keller briefly gave the Pirates the lead in the eighth. The Cubs (42-28) responded in the bottom half to tie it on Dansby Swanson’s fielder’s choice. Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s sacrifice fly against lefty Drew Pomeranz in the 10th was enough for the Pirates to hold off the Cubs.
Horton continues to impress as he seizes his opportunity. He has allowed three runs or fewer in six of his seven major-league appearances and lowered his ERA to 2.70 in three starts at Wrigley. Cubs fans gave Horton an ovation as he exited in the sixth inning.
“Cade’s going to be Cade, it doesn’t matter to Cade that Paul Skenes is pitching — and it shouldn’t, Cade has got to go out and do his thing,” manager Craig Counsell said before the game. “If anything, the pitcher feels, ‘Hey, it’s going to be tough to score for the Cubs today, and I’m going to try to do my best to keep us in it from that perspective, and I’ve got to be at my best.’ Cade’s going to be up to that challenge.”
Horton’s efficiency played a key role in his success versus the Pirates. He didn’t allow the leadoff hitter to reach until the sixth, showed a five-pitch mix, featuring a nasty sweeper that on 16 pitches produced five whiffs on nine swings and two called strikes, and stayed around the zone to yield three innings in which he threw 10 pitches or fewer.
“He’s a really big time competitor so he’s hard on himself, but that’s almost like his strength is he expects himself to be great,” said catcher Reese McGuire, who also caught him in Triple A this year. “And that’s what we talk about, just, hey, let’s be good over and over, each pitch, win the pitch, win the at-bat and those good things add up, and then you have a great day. He gave us a chance to win today.”
Skenes entered Friday with a 1.88 ERA through 14 starts while giving up more than two earned runs in an outing just twice. One of those times came against the Cubs, though, when they hit three home runs to score three runs off Skenes on May 1 in Pittsburgh. The Cubs didn’t need a pregame meeting to prepare for Skenes. Friday marked the sixth time they faced the 23-year-old right-hander since he made his MLB debut May 11, 2024 — versus the Cubs, whom Skenes also squared off against in his second big-league start.
“It doesn’t become a game planning meeting, it becomes execution for kind of both sides,” Counsell said. “That’s why I always say when you play somebody a lot, it’s becomes execution, that’s how this works.”
Skenes largely executed against the Cubs, though they made him work. A Kyle Tucker 10-pitch at-bat and Matt Shaw getting him to throw 17 pitches between his first two plate appearances helped Skenes climb to 95 pitches by the end of the fifth to end his day.
In the last two weeks, the Cubs offense has been tested by some of the best starting pitchers in the majors. The schedule has aligned for the Nationals’ MacKenzie Gore, Tigers’ Tarik Skubal, Phillies’ Zack Wheeler and Jesús Luzardo and Skenes over the previous 10 games, with that group owning a collective 2.69 ERA, which is skewed by Luzardo surrendering 20 total runs in his two starts before facing the Cubs on Wednesday.
As much as the Cubs battled in those games, they lost all five, including four by two runs or fewer.
“Winning. What else is there?” Counsell said, when asked what he wants to see from the Cubs against those caliber of starters. “We can make up a narrative, but if we don’t win, it’s not going to be a good narrative. I mean, that’s what we’re trying to do. I can say, let’s see a lot of pitches, and then after the game I can say we saw a lot of pitches, but we didn’t score.
“Look, we want to have a good process, that’s what you can control. But that always involves swinging at balls — the right pitches — so that doesn’t change no matter who’s pitching, it’s always the same.”
The challenging stretch has also yielded struggles with runners in scoring position, their .200 average in that span tied for third lowest in the majors. The Cubs stranded nine runners and went 0-for-10 with RISP on Friday.
“The offensive group has been so good all year, it wasn’t going to be completely perfect, and you run into a stretch of some tough pitchers, some good staffs and bullpens that makes it difficult,” left fielder Ian Happ said. “But that just means that we’re due for a couple big numbers here, that’s coming.”
