Rookies Cade Horton and Matt Shaw lead Cubs to 6-1 City Series win over White Sox — and back into 1st-place tie

Chicago Tribune

27-07-2025

Cade Horton seemed unfazed by the game's circumstances.
For six innings in the City Series matchup Saturday night, the Cubs and White Sox matched zeros in front of a split sellout crowd of 38,432 at Rate Field. Horton rarely faced trouble, deftly navigating a one-out walk and single in the first inning with a double play. He allowed only two hits over the next five-plus innings, and the Cubs got to the Sox's bullpen in the seventh and eighth for a 6-1 win.
The two 23-year-old Cubs rookies, Horton and third baseman Matt Shaw, delivered in a bounce-back effort following the Sox's series-opening win Friday. Horton finished with 6 1/3 shutout innings while Shaw's heater continued with three-RBI night, including a two-run home run.
Horton's competitiveness has shined. Since getting roughed up in Houston on June 27, Horton hasn't allowed a run in three of his last four starts while posting 1.52 ERA in that span. That start against the Astros — he allowed seven earned runs in four innings — account for one-fourth of the earned runs Horton has allowed this season. Excluding that game, Horton has posted a 2.92 ERA in 64.2 innings (12 outings).
'He's not going to let the previous pitch affect the next pitch, and that's a real skill,' Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. 'I'm saying that as a compliment because that's hard to do in this game, and Cade's excellent at it, and it contributes to his success.'
The Cubs have won eight of the last nine games in the City Series. They moved back into a first-place tie in the division with the victory coupled with the Milwaukee Brewers' loss to the Miami Marlins. The Cubs face the Brewers in a three-game series in Milwaukee beginning Monday.
'Horton did a nice job with the fastball, kind of had us on our heels,' Sox manager Will Venable said. 'I didn't think we made the adjustment that we needed to to get on the heater, and he beat us all day.'
The Cubs couldn't get anything going early against Aaron Civale. The Sox right-hander retired the first 11 batters before Seiya Suzuki singled with two outs in the fourth.
Civale allowed three hits and struck out six in five scoreless innings.
'Just a good game plan going in,' Civale said. '(Catcher Kyle) Teel and I were on the same page, just really focused on setups and getting to certain zones and mixing it around. So credit to him for all the work he's been putting in.'
City Series photos: Cubs beat White Sox 6-1 at Rate FieldThe curveball, in particular, served as an effective pitch.
'Felt like I found a new gear, or an old gear,' Civale said with a chuckle. 'So trying to get that back to where it was, and I feel like I got to a really good spot tonight.'
Civale exited after 69 pitches. With three lefties in the first four spots due up in the sixth, Venable said, 'It was a really good spot for (lefty Tyler) Alexander.'
'Just felt like Aaron had done his job, and he was great too,' Venable said. 'That was as good as we've seen him.'
The Cubs got to the Sox bullpen in the seventh, with Jordan Leasure allowing home runs to Ian Happ and Shaw.
'That's a good offense and they made him pay for mistakes,' Venable said.
Column: A kinder, gentler City Series? Say it ain't so, Chicago.The Cubs didn't make many mistakes, limiting a club that had been averaging 8.7 runs per game since the All-Star break to just a Mike Tauchman home run in the ninth.
'They are a really good ballclub too,' Sox third baseman Colson Montgomery said. 'So, last night our pitching, they were dominant and they were still good today. Sometimes (the other team) play(s) good too.'
Shaw's two-run blast put the Cubs up 3-0 in the seventh. In eight games since the All-Star break, Shaw is 11-for-23 (.478) with four home runs, nine RBIs and six runs scored. He worked a bases-loaded walk in the eighth against Sox reliever Dan Altavilla to build a six-run Cubs lead, which allowed Counsell to stay away from closer Daniel Palencia.
'I think just playing free and really having a lot of fun has been really huge for me,' Shaw said. 'The All-Star break was nice to get some perspective and kind of take a step back, and then just coming back and really just enjoying playing.'
Happ's solo home run in the seventh delivered the game's first run — though he witnessed his former teammate Tauchman nearly rob him of the long ball.
'It was a little scary,' Happ said with a grin. 'I thought I got it a hair better than that. I've seen him do it before, so I'm glad he couldn't get to that one.'
Amid a tough stretch for Happ, who entered the game hitting .128 with a .437 OPS in his last 90 plate appearances, the home run finally gave the veteran something positive to potentially build off of. It marked only his second homer in the last month.
'Sometimes you just need success,' Counsell said. 'We can say everything you want to a player, but you need some success, and you need to be part of a win and contribute to a win. Ian did in a big way tonight. And that's as important as anything. That reinforces it's there.
'Sometimes you go through these bad stretches that we don't want to go through. But we need him to be himself, and we saw that tonight.'