Chicago Cubs rookie starting pitcher Cade Horton continued his second-half dominance on Wednesday, but his five-inning, no-hit effort was spoiled after the bullpen allowed five runs to the Atlanta Braves. Fans were incensed when Cubs manager Craig Counsell took Horton out of the game to start the sixth inning and Ben Brown didn't help the cause in his second inning of work, when the Braves broke through en route to a 5-1 win.
The Cubs have been extra careful with Horton since the calendar flipped to August. The young righty has only thrown more than 80 pitches in a start once in his last seven outings and the last time Horton eclipsed 90 pitches in a start came on July 9.
That hasn't taken away from Horton's brilliance and you can actually argue that Horton's performance has improved during the past few months because he knows he won't be out there for 90+ pitches, making him more aggressive in the strike zone. That's led to a dominant run by Horton that is comparable to Jake Arrieta's insane second half in 2015.
Horton is the favorite to win Rookie of the Year and Cubs' fans obviously want to see him go deeper in games. Yet, it doesn't appear as though Counsell is changing his mind on Horton's usage in September and Horton is the first to stick up for his manager's decision.
The Cubs are holding Horton back now, knowing that in the bigger picture, keeping the rookie relatively fresh for a playoff run is more important than throwing 1-2 more innings per game in the regular season.
Wednesday's loss to the Braves had a lot more to do about the offense than Horton getting the hook after 75 pitches. Yes, it was annoying seeing the bullpen give up the lead in the seventh, but in the grand scheme of things it's not like the standings changed all that much.
Fans might still be clinging on to the hope that the Cubs can catch the Milwaukee Brewers and win the NL Central, but 5.5 games back with 22 games left to play in the regular season the chances of that actually happening are slim to none.
There's no exact science with how to handle young pitchers, but it's not like the Cubs are harming Horton's development. On the contrary, he's pitching at an elite level and the point of this plan is to have him in a position to go deeper in games in October.
Plus, there's the fact that Horton missed the majority of last season with an arm injury and it can get tricky putting a bunch of innings on a pitcher who hasn't ever pitched this much in a year. The good thing is that Horton and the Cubs are clearly on the same page and so far he's responded by being the best starting pitcher in baseball for the past two months.
