Former Sooner Cade Horton makes his case for National League Rookie of the Year

Former Sooner Cade Horton continues make his case for the National League Rookie of the Year. The Norman native pitched 5 no-hit innings for the Cubs Wednesday night, but the Chicago bullpen wasn't able to do their part in a 5-1 loss to the Braves at Wrigley Field. Horton racked up six strikeouts in his five no-hit innings, with the lone blemish being a one-out, 10-pitch walk to Matt Olson in the first inning.

“I feel like I’m supposed to go out there and do that. That’s my job,” Horton said following the game. “But also, at the end of the day, it is really cool that I’ve put up those numbers. But I’ve got a start in six days and face the same lineup, so [it’s], ‘Go out there and do it again.’ It’s just never really getting complacent.”

Cubs manager Craig Counsell pulled Horton after 75 pitches. 

"It's what we're doing," Counsell said. "Cade could have four or five regular-season starts left, and hopefully he's got another four or five more starts after that. That innings number could get pretty high, so we're going to make sure he is properly taken care of."

How good has Cade Horton been this season? Let's take a look at the numbers:

Cade Horton By The Numbers

8 - the number of 5+ inning scoreless outings Horton has had since May 10th, the day he made his MLB debut. That ties him with Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal

0.77 - Horton's ERA since the All-Star break. That's the 2nd lowest ERA after the All-Star since 1933, trailing only Jake Arrieta's 0.75 in 2015

20 - career big league appearances by Horton. 8 of those are qualified starts in which he did not allow a single run, that's most in MLB history. It's one better than Harry Krause in 1909, and Cal Eldred from 1992-93

2 - the number of times Horton has pitched more than 6 innings as a pro (both came in July), and he's never pitched more than 7. The only time he's gone more than 7 was OU's loss to Ole Miss in the College World Series on 6/26/22

24 and 4 - the number of hits and runs, respectively, Horton given up in his last 9 starts 

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