PHOENIX – Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon was aiming for the outside edge of the strike zone with a fist-pitch cutter and a fifth-pitch slider to Eugenio Suárez in separate at-bats.
“Obviously, he hits mistakes, but he also has good coverage on breaking balls middle-down,” Taillon said after the Cubs’ 8-1 loss Friday to the Diamondbacks.
He was hoping to get Suárez to roll over a pitch breaking away from him. But Taillon would have settled for those two landing “anywhere but there.”
Both hung over the middle of the plate, and Suárez blasted a pair of two-run home runs to account for half of the Diamondbacks’ runs Friday in a rout. Those two long balls were the most obvious sign that Taillon, who gave up six runs and nine its in 4 1/3 innings, was searching in his season debut.
“Both of them kind of just backed up and really didn’t have the shape I wanted, either,” Taillon said. “So it’s hard to get your lines right when your pitches aren’t really doing what you want them to.”
Taillon’s consistency last season was a major piece in the rotation’s success, as it posted the second-best ERA (3.77) in the National League, trailing only the Braves. He’ll need to recapture that steadiness as the team aims to end their four-year playoff drought.
The first step is identifying why Taillon was so off on Friday.
“We definitely will,” Taillon said. “It’s the beauty of being back into the routine of the season. There’s going to be things that you need to make adjustments on and address. And unfortunately, mine’s after Day 1, but I’m confident we’ll do it.”
Taillon pushed back on the notion that the Cubs’ trip to Japan – which interrupted spring training and had the players battling jet lag both ways for two regular season games against the Dodgers in Tokyo – might be to blame for his struggles.
“I would just say it’s probably a little more about timing and stuff like that, less about flying and all that,” he said. “We’ve had plenty of time to get that out.”
He did have a unique lead-up to his first start of the season. Taillon started the Cubs’ second exhibition game in Japan and then six days later made his last spring training appearance Saturday against the Rockies.
“He tunnels his pitches really well and can throw any pitch in any count,” said Carson Kelly, who caught all of Taillon’s spring training starts. “He’s a true pro. So, we’re going to shake this one off and come back tomorrow.”
The Diamondbacks rolled out a lineup of mostly lefties and switch hitters against Taillon, whose splits even last year favored left-handed batters. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Suárez were the only right-handed batters in the starting order.
“To the lefties I wasn’t landing my curveball particularly well,” Taillon said.
So, they could look to hit his fastball and cutter, making it easier to be on time. The 14 curveballs Taillon threw generated one whiff, one called strike and three foul balls, according to Statcast.
“And then to the righties, I just hung some pitches,” Taillon said.
Well, two in particular.
“It just wasn’t a very good game,” Taillon said. “I feel like they hit every mistake – hit some good pitches, hit some horrible pitches. It made a recipe for a bad night.”
After the excitement of a strong re-start, when the Cubs beat the Diamondbacks 10-6 in their domestic opener Thursday, their flop Friday brought their record to a measly 1-3.