DENVER — The pitch Cubs right-hander Cade Horton threw after giving up a two-run home run to the Rockies’ Yanquiel Fernandez in the fourth inning Friday was a curveball that he fooled Orlando Arcia into chasing below the strike zone.
Horton came back with a fastball up and in that was called a ball, but it helped to set up the low fastball he threw after that to get an inning-ending grounder.
‘‘It’s like having an eraser of what just happened,’’ manager Craig Counsell said before the Cubs’ 11-7 victory against the Rockies. ‘‘Because something bad is going to happen.’’
Horton has risen to various challenges all season, from making his major-league debut at Citi Field in New York to bouncing back after getting roughed up in Houston to getting the most out of his pitch limit.
He faced a new one Friday: pitching at hitter-friendly Coors Field. The altitude in Denver affects pitch shapes and makes batted balls carry, and the outfield dimensions leave plenty of space for doubles to drop in.
Horton held the Rockies to two runs — on Fernandez’s homer — through five innings.
‘‘Really attack and really make them earn it was the big thing,’’ he said after the game.
‘‘You’ve got to go out and execute the next pitch and not let an inning snowball because of a good pitch you made that didn’t move the way you wanted [and] got hit for a home run,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘Then that makes you throw your breaking ball in a different way. Pitchers get confused here when the ball doesn’t do what they normally see it do. And they’ve got to resist making changes because of that.’’
Horton kept his composure not only after the homer but also after yielding doubles with one out or fewer in each of his first three innings. None of those baserunners scored.
Horton made an errant pickoff attempt in the fifth, his throw to second sailing wide and into the outfield to let both runners advance. But he struck out Brenton Doyle to escape.
All told, he gave up six hits, struck out four and walked two.
“He handled it like he pretty much has handled things all year, with competitiveness, with composure,” said shortstop Dansby Swanson, who hit two home runs and a bases-clearing triple Friday. “It’s fun to play behind, it’s fun to watch, and definitely thankful that he’s continuing to do it each and every time he goes out there. Haven’t really seen too much faze him up to this point. And it’s really, really cool to watch him get in his groove right now.”
Horton has put himself squarely in the National League Rookie of the Year conversation. He is the favorite across several betting sites, with Brewers outfielder Isaac Collins and Braves catcher Drake Baldwin serving as strong competition.
Horton has made efficiency the defining characteristic of his impressive season. En route to six scoreless innings against the Angels in his last start, Horton threw 21 consecutive strikes to begin his outing.
Pitching coach Tommy Hottovy described everyone in the dugout — pitchers, especially — looking at each other but not wanting to jinx it by saying anything.
According to Hottovy, when Horton finally threw his first ball, veteran reliever Ryan Brasier (in the dugout because he’s on the injured list) exclaimed he never had seen anything like that before.
‘‘You see a guy who’s confident in attacking the strike zone,’’ Hottovy said this week. ‘‘He’s done a fantastic job since he’s come up here of trusting who he is. And you see every outing it’s more and more confidence, more and more, ‘All right, I’m coming after you, and I’m going to make you prove that you can hit my stuff before I show you something different.’
‘‘And will that cost him some strikeouts early in games? Absolutely. But it pays benefits down the road. You’re throwing 75 pitches. You’re going six innings. That’s insane.’’
Horton wasn’t quite that efficient Friday, reaching 70 pitches in five innings. But considering the ballpark factors with which he was contending, it was a notable showing.
‘‘Obviously, he’s still got a lot that he wants to prove and that he wants to continue to prove this year,’’ Hottovy said. ‘‘But when you go into an end-of-the-season series, a postseason series, you feel good about him going up against anybody.’’