Cade Horton Pulled After 3 Innings, 29 Pitches Due to Low Back Tightness

Cade Horton allowed a leadoff homer to Francisco Lindor, then a single to Juan Soto, and a deep fly out to Pete Alonso that made it seem as though the rookie was well off his game. Then he coaxed a shallow fly from Brandon Nimmo before striking out Mark Vientos to escape the inning with just one run on 15 pitches. Horton sat the Mets down in order in both the 2nd and 3rd innings on seven pitches apiece, making this look like yet another supremely efficient start.

That is, until Michael Soroka came out to pitch the 4th inning. Absent an immediate explanation, there were understandable concerns about Horton exiting the game so early. But with Soroka warming in the bullpen while the rookie was still the game, it seems as though this was a situation in which the Cubs being up 5-1 gave Craig Counsell a chance to rest his best starter for the postseason.

After a nearly interminable wait, it was revealed that Horton was pulled as a precautionary move after he began experiencing tightness in his lower back. You can’t be too careful with stuff like that, particularly when you’re talking about your best starter who has already thrown more innings at the MLB level alone this season than he has at any point in his life.

Now we all just sit back and hope this is truly a very minor issue that won’t impact Horton when he presumably pitches again in a week.

Update: Counsell said after the game that Horton had been under the weather recently and was coughing a lot, which may have caused his back to tighten up. The pitcher confirmed as much, saying he felt great pitching-wise but didn’t want to jeopardize his immediate future.

“In between innings, my breath started to bother me,” Horton explained. “So just wanted to get on top of it early while we have time, rather than keep going and potentially harm the next start.”