Taillon happy with stuff, but pivotal ABs derail start against Astros

HOUSTON -- Jameson Taillon waited a moment before he turned to look down the left-field line. By the time the Cubs starter allowed himself to find the baseball that Jose Altuve had just sent skyward, it was on its way into the seats beyond Daikin Park’s famous wall.

“I knew it was gone,” Taillon said. “I grew up coming to games here. I’ve seen so many balls go into the Crawford Boxes.”

Altuve’s two-run home run off Taillon in the fifth inning on Sunday afternoon was the decisive moment in the Cubs’ 2-0 loss to the Astros, but there were more layers to the day experienced by the big Chicago righty. Really, Isaac Paredes proved to be the thorn in Taillon’s side, grinding the pitcher down in what had the ingredients of a strong start.

Paredes and Taillon did battle three times, with the Astros’ designated hitter forcing Taillon to toil through 31 pitches on his own. It played a role in knocking Taillon out of the contest before the end of the fifth, masking the progress that the starter was displaying opposite Houston lefty Framber Valdez.

Taillon bounced back from two rough outings. He played damage control at a handful of turns. He found a rhythm with his delivery and adjusted some of his pitch usage. It was a noticeable step forward -- except for the fact it required 107 pitches in 4 2/3 frames. That was due to Paredes, who fouled off 17 pitches in their three meetings.

“He almost saw a third of the pitches he threw,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “It just takes a lot of energy from the pitcher.”

Prior to Sunday, Taillon had allowed 16 runs on 13 hits (five home runs) in eight total innings across his previous two appearances (both losses for the Cubs). Taillon said he felt like something clicked in his most recent bullpen session, during which he felt more compact and “connected” in his delivery.

That was one of the goals on the physical side this past week for Taillon, who spun a 2.31 ERA in the six starts before the two-outing setback. The Cubs’ pitching group also dove into the recent stretch and wanted to find ways to tweak his arsenal and get the pitcher back on the attack in a more unpredictable manner.

“There’s some things he can do from a usage standpoint to kind of protect his other stuff,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said last week. “If your command suffers at all, your margin for error goes down. And I think there’s some ways that we can buy some more margin for error for Jamo.”

Against the Astros, Taillon increased his cutter use to 29 percent, as opposed to 12.3 percent on the season, entering Sunday. Part of that was in the plan and part was a reaction to how the pitch was working (plus Houston having seven righties in the lineup). Taillon also reduced his changeup use in the finale against Houston.

“It’s hard to be too happy when you don’t complete even five innings,” Taillon said. “But I actually thought that was some of the best stuff and command I’ve had all year.”

Paredes just threw a major wrinkle into the equation.

In the first inning, Paredes led off and saw 12 pitches, fouling off eight, including seven in a row at one point. Taillon sent four-seamers (four), sweepers (four), cutters (two) and sinkers (two), moving up and down the zone, while trying to get Paredes to chase something outside. Finally, Paredes sent a flare into right for a single.

“He got a hit on a really good pitch,” Taillon said, “so it’s kind of one of those instant, ‘Man, this is how it’s been going for me a little bit.’ And then, snap out of that and just get back to making pitches.”

Taillon stayed around the edges in their next meeting in the third inning, leaning more on the four-seamer (four) in a nine-pitch at-bat that ended with a popout. In the fifth, Paredes saw 10 pitches -- Taillon led with the cutter (five) this time around -- and eventually flied out to right field.

Given Paredes’ propensity for contact, the goal for Taillon was “just try not to repeat a bunch of the same things.”

“But it helps him. It helps the lineup. It helps all the other righties,” Taillon said. “It obviously wears me down a little bit, too.”

And it can set the stage for a knockout blow like the one Altuve delivered.

“Jamo had a good outing,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “He unfortunately left a slider up, out, over and Altuve put one in those boxes.”