CHICAGO -- With the Wrigley Field crowd on its feet and roaring, the Cubs were poised for a dramatic walk-off win on Monday night. The North Siders had the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth against Tigers closer Kenley Jansen, and Alex Bregman worked the count full with two outs.
Bregman swung through an up-and-in cutter for an inning-ending strikeout, eliciting a groan from the Cubs' faithful and sending the game to extra innings. Things swiftly spiraled against Chicago in an 8-6 loss in 10 innings.
“We had opportunities,” Cubs outfielder Ian Happ said. “We did a really good job fighting all day. Sometimes, there’s just games that go against you like that.”
In the top of the 10th, Cubs reliever Trent Thornton took a hard comebacker from Riley Greene off his left leg and was forced to exit. Gold Glove second baseman Nico Hoerner made a costly error. And Detroit found its way to three runs in the frame to send Chicago to a loss in the opener of this three-game set.
Here were three takeaways from Monday’s defeat to the Tigers:
1. Taillon’s mixed results
In a span of four batters in the first inning, Cubs starter Jameson Taillon certainly looked like a pitcher trying to find his footing after more than a month on the injured list due to a left hamstring injury.
Gleyber Torres lofted a pitch from Taillon into right-center for a single, Colt Keith ripped a double into the left-field corner and then Greene and Dillon Dingler connected for consecutive homers that put the Cubs in a swift 4-0 hole. Taillon led the Majors in homers allowed (20) when he hit the 15-day IL on June 7 and that issue immediately showed up upon his return.
“I felt pretty good. I don’t think it’s just rust,” Taillon said. “It’d be nice to just chalk it up to that. Homers, obviously, have been a problem this year. On a day like today with the wind blowing out, solo homers won’t beat you. But a three-run homer to their All-Star in the middle of the order is not great.
“First inning, first inning back in a while, it’d be nice to get your feet wet, but they were obviously ready to swing. So I need to be ready for that, as well.”
And then Taillon settled in.
Following the opening frame, the Cubs' starter limited the Tigers to a 1-for-13 showing. Taillon gave the North Siders 4 1/3 innings and 75 pitches, exiting with two runners aboard in the fifth after a pair of walks. Ryan Rolison took over and escaped the frame unscathed to keep Chicago within striking distance.
An interesting aspect of Taillon’s outing was that he ramped up the use of his changeup, featuring it 32% of the time (compared to 15% on the year). He leaned more on the offspeed pitch the second time through the order, making it his most-used pitch for the first time this season. Taillon also reduced his overall use of fastballs (four-seamers, cutters and sinkers).
“They threw the first punch against Jameson tonight. He responded,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “They got four on the board, but he responded.”
2. Back-to-back off Flaherty
Dating back to June 29, veteran righty Jack Flaherty allowed exactly one home run across a span of 157 batters for the Tigers. That streak stretched into the third inning on Monday, when the Cubs’ lineup finally broke through.
After that extended power outage against Flaherty, Seiya Suzuki and Michael Busch launched back-to-back homers off the starter.
Suzuki’s shot (No. 16 on the season for the right fielder) was a two-run blast on a 1-0 four-seamer, which he sent sailing to the bleachers in right-center field. Busch followed with an opposite-field homer (No. 13 for the first baseman), driving a 3-1 fastball that was over the outside edge deep to left-center.
3. Happ’s big swing goes for naught
Happ strolled slowly out of the batter’s box as he watched his Statcast-projected 432-foot homer sail into the right-field bleachers in the eighth inning on Monday night.
Facing righty Kyle Finnegan, Happ drove an elevated fastball out for a two-run, game-tying blast that marked the Cubs outfielder’s first shot at Wrigley Field since June 4. It was also his first home run overall since June 27, and gave him 18 on the season. Happ now sits 11th all time on the Cubs’ career leaderboard with 191 homers.
It was the type of blast that could have been a big momentum swing for the Cubs, but Chicago was unable to capitalize. The North Siders could not break through against Jansen in the ninth inning and could only manage one run in the home half of the 10th after Detroit moved in front.