Taillon headed to IL after departing with hamstring strain

CHICAGO -- Jameson Taillon stood by his locker Sunday night and tried to offer what little clarity he could.

There would be imaging Monday. There would be more answers then. There was no sense, at least initially, that the left hamstring strain he sustained in the Cubs’ 2-1, 10-inning loss to the Giants at Wrigley Field was anything catastrophic.

But there was also this reality: Taillon expects to land on the injured list.

For a Cubs rotation already missing Matthew Boyd, Justin Steele and Cade Horton, that was the part that mattered most.

“Obviously it’ll be an IL stint,” Taillon said. “But hopefully we can keep the arm conditioned and moving around. I don’t think it’s surgical or anything like that. I’m getting an MRI tomorrow and we’ll know more then.”

The injury came during a six-pitch walk to Matt Chapman to open the second inning. Taillon had already labored through a 29-pitch first, allowing one run on two hits and a walk while stranding runners at second and third. When he came back out for the second, something quickly felt off.

“In that at-bat to Chapman, just in between pitches I was trying to weigh whether it was worth throwing another pitch or not,” Taillon said. “Then threw the 3-2 pitch and felt it a little more. Nothing I’ve ever felt.”

Taillon immediately motioned toward the Cubs’ dugout. Manager Craig Counsell and a member of the training staff came out for a brief conversation, and Taillon’s night was over after just three outs.

It was another blow to a rotation that has already been stretched thin. Boyd, Steele and Horton are sidelined, and the Cubs have been forced to keep searching for coverage, length and stability from a pitching staff that has had little margin for another setback.

Taillon entered Sunday having made 12 starts this season, posting a 5.13 ERA with 57 strikeouts across 66 2/3 innings. The numbers have not been where he wants them, but his presence has mattered. With so much uncertainty already surrounding the rotation, losing another established starter is the kind of thing that can quickly ripple beyond one game.

“You can do everything in your power to stay healthy, but sometimes all it takes is landing weird once,” Taillon said. “I’m proud of the work I do in between starts to make myself available and out there, but sometimes you just can’t avoid it.”

The Cubs did receive one massive silver lining.

Javier Assad, recalled from Triple-A Iowa on Saturday, replaced Taillon and delivered one of the best relief outings by a Cubs pitcher in decades. Assad threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out five. He retired 12 consecutive hitters at one point and left to a standing ovation after striking out Casey Schmitt in the eighth.

Assad became the first Cubs pitcher since 1974 with a scoreless relief appearance of more than six innings, and the first Cubs reliever to go at least 6 1/3 scoreless while allowing one hit or fewer since Warren Hacker on June 12, 1949.

“It’s a shame, because you lose your starter in the first, and you’re kind of going, ‘Oh no,’ and then you get an outing like that,” Counsell said. “A great outing. And he deserves to be the hero tonight pitching like that, and we just couldn’t make enough happen offensively.”

That was the other part of Sunday’s frustration.

The Cubs had chances. They tied the game in the third inning on three consecutive two-out singles from Carson Kelly, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Moisés Ballesteros. They loaded the bases in the fourth after an Ian Happ triple and two walks, but Kelly struck out to end the threat.

In the eighth, Miguel Amaya drew a leadoff walk and Kevin Alcántara entered as a pinch-runner. Michael Busch followed with a swinging bunt that led to an errant throw, putting runners at the corners with nobody out. But Alex Bregman lined out to first baseman Rafael Devers, who threw across the diamond to double off Alcántara at third.

“I was ready to score,” Alcántara said through an interpreter. “There was a bit of confusion there with the bat broken, and I was just very aggressive. No excuse. I feel like I could’ve done a much better job to go back to third.”

The Cubs put two more runners on in the ninth and had Crow-Armstrong at third in the 10th, but they came away empty both times. Chapman’s RBI single in the top of the 10th proved to be the difference.

The result left the Cubs with another missed chance, another series loss and another injury concern in a rotation that could not afford one.

“I don’t think any of us doubt what we’re capable of,” Taillon said. “But we’ve just put ourselves in a bad spot.”