The #1 source for #Cubs, #MLB, and #MiLB news and notes. Cubs win behind Cade Horton and a resurgent Matt Shaw, tie the Crosstown Series.
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Any MLB team can beat you. The good teams WILL beat you.
Cade Horton and Aaron Civale locked up in a classic pitchers’ duel Saturday night on the South Side. Horton had two pitch-clock violations [VIDEO], [VIDEO], and this fine moment for a former Cub [VIDEO]. Otherwise he was under control and dominant at times.
Ian Happ interrupted the flow of the game by homering [VIDEO], 1-0, and Matt Shaw followed shortly thereafter [VIDEO] making it 3-0, breaking the scoreless tie and balancing the scales on the Cubs’ side, waking up Cub bats and setting up a meatloaf opportunity.
‘Stopper’ Horton pitched 6⅓ innings, threw 84 pitches (56 for strikes), gave up four hits, one walk, and no runs of any kind. Caleb Thielbar closed out the seventh with a twin killing and the Cubs got back to work. Dansby Swanson drove in two with a single after the bases were loaded [VIDEO] and at that point, the 5-0 game became an academic exercise. The new and improved Shaw studied the five pitches he was thrown after the bases were loaded back up and found that four of them didn’t pass [VIDEO]. 6-0.
Brad Keller had a clean eighth, and Ryan Pressly wrapped it up [VIDEO] despite a home run from our friend the Palatine Pounder, former Cub Mike Tauchman, who is having a good series [VIDEO], and got his revenge for the earlier K issued by Horton.
Lots of blue in the stands. Somebody we know was first in line. Now they have to be first in line again to insure a positive outcome, or is that overly ‘stitious?
The Cubs seek win No. 62. The meatloaf moment is at hand.
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- Andy Martinez (Marquee Sports Network*): What we learned as rookies spark bounce-back win vs White Sox. “The Cubs withstood a pitchers’ duel before the bats broke out late in the game…”
- Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): A kinder, gentler City Series? Say it ain’t so, Chicago. “Rate Field was alive again…”
- Buster Olney (ESPN*): MLB trade deadline 2025: Teams desperate to make a move. “The wild card: Chicago Cubs.”
- Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}: Add Adrian Houser’s name to Cubs’ long list for the trade deadline. “… the Cubs could use a back-of-the-rotation starter for stability.” North Side Baseball* has more. Brett Taylor, too*.
- Andy Martinez (Marquee Sports Network*): Cubs pitching reinforcements could come soon aside from trade deadline. “… there could be an internal calvary on its way to buoy an injury-riddled pitching staff.” Meghan Montemurro* ($) has more. Andy Martinez* reports. Mike McGraw* {$} adds on.
- Joey Pollizze (MLB.com*): Imanaga unfazed by velo dip after short start vs. Sox. “He just didn’t have anything tonight, and they made him pay for it,” manager Craig Counsell said. “His stuff wasn’t crisp, and it wasn’t good.”
- Andrew Wright (North Side Baseball*): Evaluating Cade Horton’s home success and road struggles. “He has six starts at home and five starts on the road, and the production for both has been on complete different ends of the spectrum.”
- Mike McGraw (Daily Herald* ($)}: Thielbar survived rocky path to reach peak with Cubs. “Every major-league player has their own unique path.”
- Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Ian Happ has different take on Brewers jockeying with Cubs at top of MLB: ‘Great for the division’. “Happ also acknowledged the Reds and Cardinals for their above-.500 records and the Pirates for their pitching staff.”
- Tony Andracki (Marquee Sports Network*): Curtis Granderson recalls once-in-a-lifetime moment at Wrigley Field. “Anthony Rizzo once predicted the future, and Curtis Granderson remembers the moment vividly.”
Food for thought:
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