Cubs pitcher Cade Horton exits start against Mets with tight back

In between innings, rookie right-hander Cade Horton could feel tightness around his ribs and mid-back on deep breaths. It was a lingering symptom after falling ill during the Cubs' four-game series in Cincinnati over the weekend.

So, after Horton had pitched three innings in the Cubs' 9-7 loss Tuesday to the Mets, the Cubs pulled him from his start. The team framed it as a precautionary move.

It didn't seem to be a pitching injury, which is likely good news for Horton’s prospects next week when the Cubs play a best-of-three wild card series.

“For sure,” Horton said when asked if that was enough time for him to recover. “I think that's why we made the move we did tonight.”

Horton said he was coughing a lot while sick. But the tightness he felt in the aftermath didn't bother him throwing.

“I felt really good pitching-wise,” he said after allowing one run in three innings Tuesday. “I felt like I was hitting my spots, attacking guys. I really felt good. Just in between innings, started to get a little stiff, the breathing started to play a factor.”

On the first two betters Horton faced, he yielded a home run to Francisco Lindor and a single to Juan Soto. He then retired the next nine batters before leaving.

By that time, the Cubs had opened a 5-1 lead before adding another run in the fourth.

But with Horton out, the Mets put together a tying rally with five runs in the fifth. All five were unearned because of an error by shortstop Dansby Swanson.

The teams traded runs in the sixth before the Mets’ Francisco Alvarez launched a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth that turned out to be the decisive blow.

The loss extended the Cubs’ season-high losing streak to five games. They haven’t won since clinching a postseason berth last Wednesday in Pittsburgh.

“Clinching, obviously, is the first step, but playing here in front of fans at Wrigley is no small matter,” said second baseman Nico Hoerner, who went 3-for-5 and scored four runs Tuesday. “It's a huge deal, and something we all take very seriously. Couns was adamant about that in his clinching speech, just how important that is for the group and how that's the next thing.

“And obviously we haven't played well since we clinched. But playing here at Wrigley [in] playoff games is a really, really special thing and not an opportunity any of us want to miss.”