Cubs reliever Nate Pearson was already warming up in the bullpen as starter Jameson Taillon stared down Tigers hitter Spencer Torkelson.
In what would become an 8-2 Cubs loss, Chicago was trailing by four runs in the fifth inning. And Taillon had given up two straight two-out hits to put a pair of runners in scoring position.
Seven pitches into the at-bat, the count was still 2-2. Then Taillon followed a slider with a fastball to the same spot on the outside third of the plate. Torkelson watched it for strike three.
“One of my better pitches of the night,” Taillon said. “So that felt good. And then we answered with a two-run homer there, and it felt like we were cooking a little bit. So, a good way to end a not great night.”
The story of Taillon’s season has been making the best of each start without always having his best stuff. And he’s been one of the Cubs’ most consistent starters, despite his velocity being down all year.
On Wednesday, his pitches were another tick slower than even his season average. But he pushed through a four-run second inning to shut down the Tigers for the next three innings. And as his last act of the game, he got out of a jam in the fifth.
“I wasn’t throwing hard tonight, but I had some of the best fastball metrics I’ve had in a long time,” he said. “And I thought overall the pitch package was sharp. It’s just unfortunate that a night like that’s not better.”
Early in the outing, Taillon found himself falling behind in counts, which hurt him in the second inning.
“The first couple innings were a little out of character,” manager Craig Counsell said. “The misses were a little bigger than usual, and having a little hard time getting ahead of hitters.”
Taillon issued a leadoff walk to Jace Jung in the second, which is never a good way to begin an inning. Then with one out, in a 2-1 count, Taillon grooved a curve ball to Trey Sweeney. And Sweeney got enough of it to drop it in the center field basket and put the Tigers up 2-0.
Tallon responded by striking out Jake Rogers, but then the Tigers batting order turned over to the top. And after Parker Meadows hit a first-pitch double, Taillon fell behind to Riley Greene. In a 3-1 count, Taillon returned to the strike zone, and Greene tattooed a home run to right-center.
Those were the only runs Taillon allowed. He retired the next nine batters he faced, before allowing two hits in the fifth inning.
“Going into that inning, I was trying to just be efficient and try to go six, and I had a shot,” Taillon said. “Then [after the hits,] it was like, ‘All right, probably not going six. Now it’s time to put our foot down here, give us a chance.’ That was a tough at-bat. Kind of cat and mouse.”
Once Taillon got out of the inning, the Cubs offense put its first runs on the board. Christian Bethancourt ambushed a first-pitch slider and sent it over the left field fence for a two-out, two-run homer. Suddenly, the Tigers’ lead didn’t look so safe. But the Cubs’ comeback effort fell flat.
They got a runner into scoring position in the sixth and seventh innings and failed to push either across the plate.
“The next hit’s important,” Counsell said. “It’s how you score runs.”
The Cubs’ bullpen, which has transformed into a strength in recent months, took over in the sixth. Pearson held the Tigers to one hit across two innings. Then right-hander Julian Merryweather threw a 1-2-3 eighth. And towering right-hander Jack Neely made his major-league debut in the ninth.
Neely surrendered four runs on a walk, ground ball singles from Meadows and Greene and a three-run homer from Kerry Carpenter.
“He was a pitch away, or a ball being hit at someone, from having a fine night,” Taillon said. “And that’s baseball. But I thought his stuff looked great. I’m excited to have him.”