Taillon brilliant as Cubs top Royals |
SUPRISE - April showers bring May flowers, or in this case, March Showers bring hopefully warm weather. To say the weather at Spring Training this season is weird would be an understatement, as mother nature can't seem to decide what season she wants to be. On Tuesday, she had another surprise up her sleeve as the Cubs and Royals did their best to play through the rain and managed to get through six-plus innings.
When all was said and done, it was the Cubs coming away with the 6-2 win and improving to 12-10-1 this spring. Jameson Taillon looked as dialed in as ever when making what could be his second to last start of the spring. After seeing mixed results in his first few outings, Taillon was in midseason form and was simply brilliant on the mound. Not only did he get through five innings, but he did so in dominating fashion, allowing two runs on four hits with nine strikeouts. Both of those runs came on an MJ Melendez homer, but outside of that, this was by far his best start of the spring. Opposing Taillon was the veteran righty Jordan Lyles who has been on a nice run all spring. This was not one of his better outings as he pitched into the fourth, but he came away with 3 2/3 innings of work under his belt. Lyles allowed three runs, and his command was iffy as he walked four and struck out three. You saw those command issues immediately in the first inning when Dansby Swanson and Eric Hosmer took walks. Ian Happ picked up a single in the middle of those walks as the Cubs loaded the bases with one out. Threatening to strike first, Patrick Wisdom continued his impressive swing as he laced an RBI single to left, putting the Cubs in front for good 2-0. That helped Taillon settle in as he made a statement early by striking out the side in the first and picking up four punchouts across the first two innings. With Taillon doing his thing on the mound, it made things easier for the offense, with Christopher Morel unloading for his third homer of the spring in the second and extending the lead to 3-0. Morel blast 💪 pic.twitter.com/bwXRc163ER
That hit proved to be the game-winner as Taillon would not let this lead get away. There weren't too many times when Taillon found himself in trouble, but the one time came in the third, and it hurt him. With Kyle Isabel leading off the inning with a double, the Royals were in business as they were looking to bring home a run. Instead, why not make it two runs with Melendez going deep two batters later to pull the Royals within 3-2. Fortunately for Taillon, not only did he recover, but he dominated the rest of the way as the Royals failed to score another run. In case you missed it last night …
Looking to add on in the fifth, the Cubs were greeted with a familiar face as Aroldis Chapman took over. Looking to resurrect his career this season, Chapman started the inning with a pair of strikeouts before walking Happ to keep the inning alive. That walk proved costly as Happ would steal second before coming home to score on the Hosmer single to push their lead to 4-2. The Cubs continued to keep the pressure on in the sixth, with Tucker Barnhardt working a walk ahead of the Nico Hoerner single, but this time Chicago could not capitalize on the scoring chance. With Mark Leiter Jr on to pitch the sixth following the great effort from Taillon, the Royals had to feel better about their chances at a comeback. Instead, Leiter Jr picked up where Taillon left off as he struck out the side in the sixth. With the rain pouring down on the field, the Cubs offense started to pour down on the Royals, with Mike Tauchman leading off the seventh inning with a walk before advancing to second with another stolen base. That set the table for Nelson Maldonado, whose opposite-field single brought home another run to push the Cubs in front 5-2. The Cubs weren't done yet as Nelson Velazquez doubled with one out to put a pair of runners in scoring position, while Matt Mervis delivered a sacrifice fly to make things 6-2. Mervis was the game's final batter as the umpires got together and ruled the weather was too bad to continue. After slumping on offense for the better part of a week, the Cubs have started to get back on track, as they had eight hits and seven walks in the win. The duo of Taillon and Leiter Jr combined to allow four hits with 12 strikeouts and no walks.
Jameson Taillon recorded 9 Ks in 5 IP 🔥 pic.twitter.com/wZccUCnGlK
