Cubs starting pitcher Cade Horton exits with blister in 3rd inning against Brewers

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CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Cade Horton exited with a blister on his right middle finger in the third inning of a 7-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell said more would be known Wednesday or Thursday.

“It’s not horrible, but it was clearly affecting him, so we just had to stop,” Counsell said.

Horton said he believed he would make his next start.

He said he began to feel the blister after throwing a slider in the second inning, but that he had been dealing with a callus for about a week.

“It’s really frustrating,” Horton said. “Big series, big game, and the competitor in me wants to be out there and try to give my team a chance to win. But obviously, it’s probably better looking at it from a bigger picture to go ahead and call it before it gets worse and end up missing a lot of time for it.”

Horton surrendered a solo home run to Brice Turang in the third and then allowed three of the next four Brewers batters to reach base. Reliever Drew Pomeranz replaced Horton with two outs and the bases loaded. He retired Blake Perkins to limit Milwaukee’s advantage to just 1-0.

In 2 2/3 innings, Horton gave up four hits, one walk and a hit-by-pitch. The right-hander finished with three strikeouts.

Chicago started Horton in the first game of a Monday doubleheader.

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