Blue Jays' Kevin Gausman sharp but outduelled by red-hot Cubs rookie Cade Horton

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Hits and runs were sparse on Wednesday night at the Rogers Centre, in what turned out to be a very good game between the Blue Jays and the visiting Chicago Cubs.

Kevin Gausman and rookie Cade Horton engaged in a taut pitchers duel that the Cubs would prevail in, 4-1, counter-punching after the Jays took the series opener of this highly anticipated three-game set on Tuesday.

The Jays’ bats were silenced by Horton and failed to manufacture any threat. When only two hits are produced, while an opponent hits two solo homers, the margin gets pretty thin.

In their final at-bats, against Cubs closer Daniel Palencia, the Jays went quietly into the night, deserving of their fate as their record dropped to 70-51.

The following are three takeaways on a night when the Jays outdrew their season-high attendance from Tuesday night by attracting 43,120, witnessed an ugly injury when Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya tumbled over first base and was carted off the field; and maintained their 4.5-game lead in the AL East as the second-place Red Sox also lost.

TWO MISTAKES COSTLY

There wasn’t much to find fault with in Gausman’s performance as he provided his team with a quality outing — seven complete innings of three-hit ball.

The only problem was that two of those three hits left the yard as Michael Busch and Matt Shaw tagged him for solo home runs in the third and fifth innings, respectively. He also managed just three strikeouts.

The one thing about Gausman is he will battle and his outing against the Cubs was no exception. He pitched into the seventh inning in a 2-1 game and looked as locked in as he did in the first.

THE CADE GRADE

First time through the order and Horton was well-deserving of an A-plus rating.

He entered the night having pitched a Cubs rookie record 23.2 scoreless innings, a stretch in which he surrendered just 10 hits.

In facing the order for the first time, Horton struck out five, while inducing four groundouts as his compact windup and delivery may have been difficult to pick up at first view.

The Jays finally had their first base-runner when Horton walked Bichette with one out in the fourth inning. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. then tagged him for a long fly ball to left that was caught at the warning track. Horton then struck out Addison Barger for the third out.

Horton’s no-hit bid ended on an 0-2 count in the sixth inning when Andres Gimenez sent a ball up the middle for a one-out single.

Following a two-out walk to Bichette, the Jays had their first runner in scoring position and Horton was pulled for Andrew Kittredge.

Guerrero was up next and, after falling behind 0-2, doubled down the left-field line to plate Gimenez, the run charged to Horton.

D-LIGHTFUL

One of the least heralded aspects to the Jays’ game has been their defence. Outside of the occasional off-night, the team’s defence has been a bedrock of their success. Take for instance Wednesday’s game.

In Chicago’s first at-bats, Nathan Lukes sprinted from deep in right field toward the infield to make a remarkable sliding catch on Seiya Suzuki for the out.

Vladdy would later leave his feet when he went to his right in securing a sharply hit ball.

Then came Daulton Varsho’s catch in deep centre field when he went into the wall to make the out on Dansby Swanson.

While not as spectacular, Varsho also made the right read by tracking to his right on a sharply hit ball by Busch in the Cubs’ two-run eighth. It wasn’t an error, but Varsho did try to get the runner at home on a sac fly when the right play would have been to throw to second. Instead, the base-runner advanced and would score on a Suzuki single.

Up next

The series finale (3:07 p.m. first pitch) will feature veteran RHP Max Scherzer making his 10th start of the season and sixth at home. In his previous 10 outings, Scherzer has given up 10 home runs. His most recent start came in L.A. against the Dodgers on the weekend when he threw a season-high 98 pitches in a 6.0-inning outing … LHP Matthew Boyd (11-5, 2.45 ERA), who began his minor-league career with the Blue Jays, is scheduled to start for the Cubs.

fzicarelli@postmedia.com