The Cubs lost to the Guardians 4-1 Friday afternoon in Cleveland, but that’s not the big story of the day.
That, of course, is the apparent injury to Cade Horton in the second inning.
It’s really hard to tell what actually went on there. There was no obvious sign of any sort of pain from Horton, but he immediately signaled for the dugout and left the game.
Later, it was announced by the Cubs via the Marquee Sports Network broadcast that Horton left due to “right forearm
discomfort.” Which… isn’t good. That sort of thing is sometimes a precursor to Tommy John surgery. Or maybe it’s not. We just don’t know at this time. Hopefully, the Cubs will have an update later this evening, or tomorrow. For now all we, and the Cubs, can do is hope for the best.
Horton faced only four batters. From BCB’s JohnW53:
Before today, the last Cubs starter, excluding “openers,” to exit after facing no more than four batters was Alec Mills, on July 2, 2022, at home against the Red Sox. He struck out the leadoff man on a 2-2 count, then gave up a double on an 0-1 count. He injured his back, went on the Injured List and was lost for the season.
Colin Rea, who did such a good job last year filling into the rotation when Justin Steele was injured, did a great job in this one as well. He threw 3.1 innings, allowed four hits and a run and struck out four. If Rea needs to fill in, there’s at least a competent replacement for Horton, though obviously not at the same talent level.
Here’s a breakdown of Rea’s 57-pitch outing [VIDEO].
The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third. Pete Crow-Armstrong led off with a double and stole third. Miguel Amaya then doubled, with PCA scoring [VIDEO].
Amaya was serving as the DH in this one with Carson Kelly catching. He’s been doing that vs. left-handed starters. I continue to think that Amaya is primed to have a big offensive season, presuming he can stay healthy.
Hoby Milner relieved Rea in the fifth and allowed one inherited runner to score on a single by hotshot rookie Chase DeLauter, but four-time Gold Glover Ian Happ threw out the trailing runner at the plate [VIDEO].
Happ’s going to win another Gold Glove this year. That has value. I think it’d be worth keeping him around for a while longer.
Hunter Harvey relieved Milner in the seventh and served up a solo homer to Gabriel Arias that gave Cleveland a 2-1 lead. A walk to Steven Kwan followed and then DeLauter smashed a two-run shot, his fifth of the young season. (The Cubs have just six home runs as a team so far this year.) Not a good outing for Harvey, who faced just five batters, two of whom went deep.
Happ decided to challenge a strike three call leading off the ninth [VIDEO].
That was pretty obviously in the zone, but I suppose with two challenges left and three outs to go, it was worth using one.
This was yet another game where the offense simply didn’t produce — four hits and two walks isn’t going to score too many runs, and it didn’t. Can’t use the weather as an excuse here, the temp was in the 70s. The Cubs bats are simply going to have to do better.
The game was the fifth loss in a row for the Cubs in Cleveland dating to 2021, though the Cubs did sweep the Guardians at Wrigley Field last year. Hopefully, the result will be better tomorrow, and we’ll get good news about Horton. Fingers crossed.
The Cubs and Guardians will play the second game of this series Saturday evening at Progressive Field. Shōta Imanaga will start for the Cubs and Slade Cecconi goes for Cleveland. Game time is 6:15 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Fox-TV (regional — coverage map, scroll to the bottom of that link).
