CLEVELAND -- Cubs righty Cade Horton fired a fastball to Bo Naylor on Friday evening and immediately looked in the direction of the visitors’ dugout at Progressive Field. A moment later, catcher Carson Kelly was up out of the crouch and heading to the mound.
Horton represents one of the main reasons Chicago has so much faith in its rotation this season, so his early exit in Friday’s 4-1 loss to the Guardians was cause for concern. The Cubs announced that Horton exited with discomfort in his right forearm, which he will have further examined by the team’s medical staff back in Chicago in the coming days.
“You take a pitcher out of a game in the second inning, you’re concerned,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “We’ve got to let a doctor look at it. We’ll probably get imaging. That’s concerning in itself.”
Counsell added that Horton will be placed on the 15-day injured list while the team gets to the bottom of the issue. The problem initially began as tightness in the pitcher’s right wrist and then eventually developed into forearm discomfort. Four batters and 17 pitches into his second start of the season, Horton did not want to take any risks.
“I just wanted to be smart about it,” Horton said. “I’ve been in this spot before and I’ve taken the other route where I keep going, and it ends up being worse. So, I just tried to make a mature decision and end it there.”
The pitcher said he was “pretty hopeful” that this injury would not be serious.
After retiring the side in order in the first inning, the 24-year-old Horton led off the second with a walk to Cleveland’s Kyle Manzardo. He followed that with a curveball for a ball to Naylor and then sent a 93.8 mph fastball low in the zone for a strike. That was when Horton looked to the dugout and was soon in a discussion with Counsell and head athletic trainer Nick Frangella.
That last fastball from Horton was a noticeable drop in pitch speed not only from his season average (95.4 mph, per Statcast), but also a swift decline from the first inning. The righty was sitting between 95.5 mph and 96.5 mph in the opening frame (10 pitches). Horton threw five fastballs in the second with his last three declining in velocity (95.4 mph, 94.2 mph and 93.8 mph) prior to being pulled.
Horton was then lifted from the game -- replaced by veteran righty Colin Rea.
Early last season, Rea stepped into the rotation in April following a season-ending elbow injury for lefty Justin Steele. Once again, Rea began this year as part of the bullpen, giving Chicago experienced depth in case anything went awry with the rotation. After taking over for Horton on Friday, the right-hander gave Chicago 3 1/3 innings of solid work, limiting the Guardians to one run.
“That’s a tough spot,” Counsell said. “It’s unexpected and you’re not thinking about going in the game at that point. But, he gave us what we needed from him.”
The Cubs will need a starter for the last game of the current road trip (Wednesday at Tampa Bay) and Rea would be a leading candidate. A year ago, the 35-year-old Rea ended second on the team in total innings (159 1/3) with a 3.95 ERA overall. He then spun a 1.17 ERA in three playoff games for the North Siders.
Besides Rea, the Cubs also have righty Ben Brown, who has been an effective multi-inning reliever out of the gates this season. Chicago also has righty Javier Assad -- part of the rotation over the past few seasons -- at Triple-A Iowa.
“We’ll see what happens,” Rea said. “But I think we’ve got the depth to kind of cover those innings. We’ve got guys built up in Triple-A, too, so I think we’re in a good spot.”
Last season, Horton finished as the runner-up in balloting for the National League Rookie of the Year Award after going 11-4 with a 2.67 ERA and 97 strikeouts versus 33 walks in 118 innings (23 appearances). That included posting a tidy 1.03 ERA in a dozen starts after the All-Star break.
Horton opened this season as the Cubs’ No. 2 starter behind veteran lefty Matthew Boyd and the righty was solid in his season debut. Horton limited the Nationals to two runs over 6 1/3 innings in his first outing of the year on Saturday at Wrigley Field.
“He’s very important to us,” Rea said. “Hopefully, he caught it early and hopefully it’s nothing too bad and he doesn’t miss too much time.”