Taillon tries to solve rash of home runs, as Cubs lose to Marlins
The Cubs could have used a power surge on a foggy Wednesday evening at Wrigley Field.
Their lone run was a solo homer by Seiya Suzuki, and they dropped the series finale to the Miami Marlins 3-1.
Starting pitcher Jameson Taillon was the one with all the slug. He surrendered 3 home runs in this game and has allowed seven longballs in his past two starts.
Taillon leads the majors in home runs allowed with 13 on the season and has given up more home runs than walks (9), which he thought might be part of the problem.
“I have good enough command to throw a lot of strikes, and I like the idea of like keeping the defense active,” Taillon said after the game. “If I'm filling up the zone, working fast and we've got a great defense, I like taking our chances there. But I think there are times where let's use that good command to not throw strikes all the time.”
According to Statcast, Wednesday's home runs came on three pitch varieties — a cutter (Kyle Stowers), sweeper (Agustin Ramirez) and fastball (Stowers again). In the Mets game, the home runs happened on three fastballs and a sinker.
“One of them for sure, to the righty (Ramirez was a mistake), the two-strike slider that backed up,” Taillon said. “That one, I would love to have back.
“As far as Stowers goes … he's hot right now, he's swinging really well. I probably need to realize that while I'm out there and just say, like, 'If there's one guy in this lineup right now that probably shouldn't beat us, it's going to be him.'”
The 7-2 loss in New York didn't end well, especially since Taillon only lasted 4 innings. In this game, he got through 6 innings and the 3 home runs were all solo. So this qualified as a quality start.
“The line tonight is 6 innings, 4 hits, no walks, 7 strikeouts,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “If you didn't watch the game, you'd say that's a pretty darn good start. Unfortunately, Stowers is pretty locked in right now. We had three at-bats with runners in scoring position. Just not a lot of offense tonight.”
Marlins lefty Ryan Weathers made his season debut, coming off the injured list with a flexor muscle strain. He hit 99 mph with his fastball and gave up just 2 hits in 5 innings.
Wheaton native Lake Bachar tossed a perfect seventh inning for the Marlins on just 11 pitches. The right-hander, who made his MLB debut late last season, worked scoreless innings in both of Miami's wins on this trip, the first against the White Sox. He grew up in a family of Cub fans.
“It was cool, had a lot of family in,” Bachar said. “My grandpa (Ingvaar Fors, who is in his 80s) was here live. Growing up, having him follow me through Little League and all that stuff was really cool to have him here, see me pitch in person at Wrigley. Always been a dream to compete as high as I can, and for them to be there for that is a really a special moment for me.
“Wrigley is a special place, the fans really get into it and hearing them really just like gives me a lot of energy and a lot of adrenaline to kind of put into my performance.”
With a lefty on the mound, Counsell shuffled the batting order. Dansby Swanson led off, with left-handed hitting Pete Crow-Armstrong moving to the No. 5 spot. Justin Turner, the hero of Tuesday's comeback victory, started at first base.
Moises Ballesteros, another left-handed hitter, did not play. He went 0-for-4 with four groundouts in his major-league debut on Tuesday.
Before the game, Ian Happ talked about his recovery from an oblique strain. He's on the 10-day injured list, dating back to May 10. He went through a pregame routine on Monday and realized he wasn't ready, but he is planning to keep running and throwing.
“The ultimate test is hitting and checked swings,” Happ said Wednesday. “It's hard to simulate game speed, so we'll know more once we start doing that. But we're just trying to do everything right so that we can get to a place where we're not worried about going out and swinging.”