It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, considering the offense once again did not show up, but of course the one time Cade Horton’s blister issue pops up is when the Cubs began a crucial five-game series against the Brewers. The rookie right-hander exited after 2.2 innings in Monday’s 7-0 loss as Horton could no longer proceed because of a blister that affected his ability to throw his secondary pitches.
It turns out that Horton isn’t a stranger to dealing with blisters, but the timing sure was awful as he was forced to leave the game in the third inning, when it was still only one-run advantage for the Brewers. Again, it most likely wouldn’t have matter because the Cubs offense put up a total of two hits against the Brewers.
The good news is that Horton feels pretty good about making his next start despite the blister on his right middle finger.
Horton said he started to feel the blister becoming a problem during the second inning against the Brewers. Luckily, because he does have prior experience on a yearly basis, Horton knows how to manage the issue and prevent it from becoming a multi-week problem.
The 23-year-old made his MLB debut back in May and he’s been excellent for the Cubs this year. Horton has a 3.08 ERA through 87.2 innings, which included a record-setting scoreless streak for a rookie pitcher in franchise history. Entering Monday’s start against the Brewers Horton recorded a 1.13 ERA during his past seven starts.
You certainly hope that the blister issue is contained and Horton won’t miss any substantial time. Maybe the Cubs push him back a few days, but we’ll see as the rotation is in flux at the moment with Javier Assad being optioned back to Triple-A recently and Jameson Taillon returning from the injured list to start Game 2 of today’s double header.
After Monday’s game Jordan Wicks was reportedly en route to Chicago from Triple-A Iowa.
Wicks has a 3.47 ERA with 64 strikeouts in 59.2 innings this year at Triple-A. The lefty has been up a few times in 2025, but has only thrown 8.1 innings in the majors. We’ll see if Wicks is added to the pitching staff or not.
