Taillon struggles as Rangers takes series finale over Cubs |
CHICAGO - There hasn't been too much to complain about regarding the Chicago Cubs (4-4) pitching staff, but if there was an area of concern, you have to look at Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad. The Cubs prized pitching acquisition this off-season struggled in his season debut at Wrigley Field and again on Saturday against the Texas Rangers (5-4).
That can't happen when you expect to compete this season, and he needs to figure his struggles out quickly. Assad is the same way. After turning heads at the WBC and throughout spring to force his way onto the roster, Assad struggled in his only outing against the Brewers this season. He then turned around and had another rough outing against the Rangers as Texas took the series finale from the Cubs 8-2. Taillon managed to get through five innings, but the results were mixed again. He allowed five runs throughout those five innings, but only three runs were earned, so the outing is better than it looks. He walked one and struck out seven, but his Chicago Cubs tenure has yet to get off to the start he was hoping for. Opposing Taillon was the hard-throwing Jon Gray, aiming to continue his Wrigley Field success. This is one of the few ballparks that he has had constant success at, and after allowing just two runs in 5 2/3, that success continued. Most of the damage off Taillon came in the second inning when the Texas offense jumped all over the Cubs right-hander. That started with one-out singles from Josh Smith and Jonah Heim, while a Travis Jankowski double made things 1-0. Bubba Thompson doubled the lead shortly after with an RBI fielder's choice, while the Marcus Simien RBI double capped off the four-run frame with the Rangers leading 4-0. Taillon got out of the inning without further damage, but the damage was already done as the Cubs had a lot of work to do. Hoping to get some runs, a pair of former Dodgers provided some early game thump. Cody Bellinger started things with a leadoff walk while Edwin Rios unloaded for his first homer of the season to cut the deficit in half 4-2. Rios hasn't played a ton in the early part of the season, but his power bat is sought to be a massive part of the Cubs success this season. Edwin Rios - Chicago Cubs (1) pic.twitter.com/YtaDxdJefQ
Unfortunately for the Cubs, those would be the only runs they would come up with on offense as the pitching from Gray and the rest of the Rangers staff had them handcuffed. With the score still sitting at 4-2 in the fourth, the Rangers added to their lead, with Jankowski in the middle of it again. He reached on a one-out error and then raced around the bases on the Thompson double to extend their lead to 5-2. A leadoff double from Nate Lowe to begin the fifth had the Rangers in business again, only to have Taillon bounce back to end the frame. After not having much of anything going for them throughout the first four innings, it was in the fifth when they started to rally off Gray and had them in position to make things a game. Nick Madrigal and Tucker Barnhardt picked up one-out singles to put the Cubs in business, but Nico Hoerner grounded into an inning-ending double play to end the Cubs threat. With Taillon out of the game, David Ross called on Assad to keep the game close. Unfortunately, that was not the case as Heim led off the inning with a single while the Thompson triple made things 6-2. That triple was the beginning of three straight RBI hits, with Simien extending the lead with an RBI single while the Corey Seager double made things 8-2. Assad settled down to retire eight of the next nine hitters he faced, but giving up three runs first didn't help. As if the fifth inning wasn't a good enough scoring chance for the Cubs, look at the sixth, where Ian Happ had a one-out single ahead of the two-out knock from Trey Mancini. Throw in a Rios walk, and the Cubs loaded the bases, only to see that threat end with a Patrick Wisdom strikeout against Will Smith. The Cubs kept the pressure on Smith in the seventh, with Luis Torrens picking up a single ahead of a Hoerner walk. However, Torrens was picked off by Smith as the Cubs were not helping their cause. Let’s get some runs!@CliffFloyd30 x @ColeWright pic.twitter.com/P2wkZuZ7A3
Despite the struggles of Assad and Taillon, Julian Merryweather saw action in his third game and delivered his best outing of the season. That may be one of the few positives to take away from the game, as the Cubs were down to their final three outs with Josh Leclerc taking over. Leclerc made quick work of the Cubs as he retired them in order to seal the deal and avoided the weekend sweep from the North Siders. The Cubs had seven hits in the game; three came from the catcher position, with Barnhardt leading the way with two and Torrens one. Rios picked up his first homer and RBIs on the season while also reaching base via a walk. The Cubs return to Wrigley Field on Monday when they face the Seattle Mariners for the only time this season. Drew Smyly is scheduled to start that game and is looking for better results this time around.
