This should be a happy game recap, as the Cubs got yet another stellar pitching performance from Cade Horton and enough of a varied offense to defeat the Blue Jays 4-1 and even up their series in Toronto.

The happiness is tempered by the ankle injury suffered by Miguel Amaya. I’ll get to that in a bit. Let’s begin at the beginning.

Horton was dealing from the start. He retired the first 10 Jays in order before issuing a one-out walk to Bo Bichette in the fourth.

By then, the Cubs had taken a 1-0 lead in the third on Michael Busch’s 23rd home run of the year [VIDEO].

That home run didn’t go all that far — 356 feet — but check out the height! [VIDEO]

Another solo homer, this one by Matt Shaw in the fifth, made it 2-0 [VIDEO].

About the two home runs, from BCB’s JohnW53:

The Cubs’ two home runs raised their total to 96 on the road, most by any team. The Athletics went into Wednesday with 93 and the Mariners, 92. The 96 by the Cubs already are their 10th most on the road in any full season since 1901. They hit 133 in 2019, 109 in 2016, 107 in 2017 and 101 in 1998 and 2002, for six seasons with at least 100. They hit 99 in 200, 2001 and 2021, and 98 in 2004.

Horton took a no-hitter into the sixth. It was broken up by a line-drive single by Andrés Giménez. One out later, Horton walked Bichette again on a 10-pitch at-bat and as the Cubs are carefully managing Horton’s workload (something I completely agree with), that was it for the Cubs rookie, who had a terrific outing, just the one hit allowed and a career-best eight strikeouts [VIDEO].

Here’s more on Horton’s outing [VIDEO].

Andrew Kittredge relieved Horton and allowed a double to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. that broke Horton’s scoreless-inning streak at 28.1 innings, the longest in MLB this year. (Officially, MLB doesn’t count the two outs recorded in the sixth as part of the streak.) More from Meghan Montemurro in the Tribune:

Horton’s scoreless streak is the longest by a Cubs starter since Ryan Dempster’s 33 innings in 2012 and ranks 20th in franchise history. It’s the third-longest streak by a Cubs pitcher age 23 or younger since Vern Olsen’s 30 innings in 1941; Ken Holtzman had 33 straight innings in 1969.

Kittredge got the first out in the seventh and Caleb Thielbar recorded the last two in that inning without incident.

The eighth inning was both good and bad for the Cubs. They extended the lead to 4-1, but also lost Miguel Amaya for what’s likely to be an extended period of time.

Shaw led off the inning with a walk and stole second, his 15th.

Amaya squared to bunt a couple of times, but with a 1-2 count on him, chose to swing away. Here’s what happened [VIDEO].

Amaya, hustling, beat Bichette’s throw but appeared to roll his ankle on first base and fell to the ground. You’ve seen the video, no doubt, and if not, be prepared, because it’s a really emotional thing to watch. Amaya was in tears as he left the game on a cart. You can see Guerrero, at one point, walking over to comfort Amaya. I feel so awful for Amaya, who is a genuinely good person as well as a fine baseball player and who worked so hard to come back from the oblique injury suffered in May, only to be injured in his very first game back from the injured list. You can hear Jim Deshaies at the end of the clip: “I don’t know that I’ve ever wanted to cry for a guy more than I want to cry for Miguel Amaya right now. So disappointing.”

It’s heartbreaking. The Cubs dugout was absolutely silent, you can also see that in the video clip. I wish a speedy recovery and comeback for Amaya, one of the real good guys in baseball.

Reese McGuire ran for Amaya. Shaw had taken third on the infield hit, and scored on a sac fly by Busch [VIDEO].

McGuire took second on the sac fly and scored on this single by Seiya Suzuki [VIDEO].

Brad Keller dispatched the Jays 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth on only seven pitches. He had help from this nice sliding catch by Kyle Tucker [VIDEO].

Daniel Palencia threw just nine pitches (all strikes) in the ninth to record his 16th save. Here’s the final out [VIDEO].

It was a nice win, but the loss of Amaya makes that a bit more muted. McGuire will make a capable backup to Carson Kelly, as he has for the last three months. As noted by Josh in After Dark, Owen Caissie will be called up to make his MLB debut when Amaya is placed on the injured list today. I’ll have a full article on that when the move is made official.

Final note on this win from John:

The Cubs now are 11-2 this season in games after a win, then back-to-back losses — in other words, they have had only two three-game losing streaks.

The Cubs will go for the series win Thursday afternoon in Toronto. Matthew Boyd will start for the Cubs and Max Scherzer goes for the Jays. Game time is 2:07 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network. The game preview will post here at 12 noon CT.