Game Recap: Taillon impressive as Cubs top Pirates

Kamil Krzaczynski - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - 22 hours ago

Chicago - There have been numerous breakout performances that have contributed to the Chicago Cubs' (42-27) success this season, and Jameson Taillon is one of those players. Not only does the right-hander lead the team with seven wins, but he's now tied with Carlos Zambrano for the most consecutive starts, allowing two runs or less and four hits or less while throwing six innings as he has done in six consecutive starts.

That included his most recent start against the Pittsburgh Pirates (28-42) Thursday night at Wrigley Field, as it was business as usual for Taillon. After holding the Pirates to one hit through six innings, things began to unravel for Taillon in the seventh as he faced four hitters and retired only one. Still, with two runs allowed across 6 1/3, it was Taillon leading the way yet again as the Cubs used two homers to pick up a 3-2 win.

A big reason for Taillon's success this season has been his ability to throw first-pitch strikes while also pitching to the conditions. He continued to do both of those again in this outing, as his first-pitch strike percentage remained close to 70%, while he walked two and struck out seven. That included six strikeouts across the first four innings, as the only hit the Pirates were able to muster was a one-out single from Andrew McCutchen in the first.

As good as Taillon was, Andrew Heaney was just as good, with the left-hander continuing to have a great season. While his record (3-5) may not show it, his 3.33 ERA does, as Heaney has been better than anyone expected him to be this season. He was even better than Taillon in the early going, retiring the first 10 hitters he faced before the Kyle Tucker single in the fourth put an end to that.

Two batters later, Heaney saw his shutout bid go to waste as Pete Crow-Armstrong got him for his 18th homer of the season to put the Cubs on top 2-0. Considering the weather conditions, it's hard to believe Crow-Armstrong was able to hit that pitch out as he hit the highest recorded pitch this season over the wall.

With both pitchers continuing to do their thing across the next two innings, this was going to come down to the bullpens late, as runs were at a premium throughout. Even with most of the lineup struggling to hit lefties, which continued to be a thing in this one, Seiya Suzuki is one of the few players to handle lefties this season, and with his game-winning homer in the sixth, he continued that trend and put the Cubs in front 3-0.

For as dominant as Taillon was through six innings, you saw how quickly things can unravel in the seventh as he seemed to run out of gas at the worst time. After allowing a one-out double to Spencer Horwitz, the Pirates pushed across their first run as Adam Frazier came through with an RBI single. That was the second of three consecutive hits off Taillon, with Isiah Kiner-Falefa picking up a single shortly after to chase Taillon from the game in favor of Brad Keller.

Speaking of standout performers this season, Keller has to be one of the MVPs of the bullpen, as he has earned the role he has secured this season. On this night, he didn't have his best stuff as he hit Brett Sullivan to load the bases before walking Jared Triolo to pull the Pirates within 3-2, and the top of the order set to bat. It was at this moment when the Cubs' bullpen showed why they have been the best in baseball for quite some time as Keller struck out Oneil Cruz to end the inning and extinguished the only scoring chance the Pirates would have the rest of the way.

Daniel Palencia and Ryan Pressly took care of the rest from there as they combined to retire all six hitters they faced to close things out with the Cubs taking the series opener 3-2. The surprising move of this game was seeing Palencia pitch in the eighth over Pressly, with Pressly called on to pitch the ninth. The thought process was to have Palencia face the teeth of the Pirates' lineup in the eighth, and that plan worked to perfection for Counsell, as the Cubs continue to find ways to win during this challenging stretch.

Tucker, Suzuki, Crow-Armstrong, and Swanson had the four hits for the Cubs as their offense continues to struggle of late.

Next up for the Cubs is a matchup between Cade Horton and Paul Skenes, as the Cubs will look to take a 2-0 lead to start this 10-game homestand.