Jameson Taillon leads Cubs to historic win
In his return to New York, Jameson Taillon turned in his best outing as a Cub.
Taillon, signed to a 4-year contract this offseason, pitched 8 shutout innings of 1-hit ball against his former team, sparking the Cubs to a 3-0 win over the Yankees. It was the first win in franchise history by the Cubs against the Yankees in New York. Taillon had 4 strikeouts and permitted just 2 walks on 102 pitches.
“Best Cubs outing I think he’s had,” manager David Ross told reporters after the game. “Phenomenal. The secondary stuff he was landing at will. … Special outing. It looked in rhythm. Nice outing for Jamo. That was the story.”
Jameson Taillon's 2Ks in the 5th. pic.twitter.com/zSLLcgArAU
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 8, 2023
The righty entered the start with a 6.93 ERA, just 1 quality start and never pitching into the 7th inning as a Cub. He exited the start with the best start of his Cub career and one of the best outings by a Cubs’ starter this season.
“I feel like I’ve been trending in the right direction for awhile,” Taillon told reporters after the game. “It’s just nice to see what me and [pitching coach] Tommy [Hottovy], [assistant pitching coach Daniel] Moskos and [bullpen coach Chris Young] and the catchers and everyone and what we’ve been working on and what we’ve been working towards, it’s nice that the results kinda back it up a little bit.”
6 MLB pitchers have gone 7.2+IP this season and allowed 1 hit or less.
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) July 8, 2023
4 of those pitchers are on the @Cubs. pic.twitter.com/TMitw9KgDS
The Cubs’ offense backed him up with a 3rd inning home run from Cody Bellinger to right field, extending his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games. Bellinger finished the night 2-for-3 with a walk. Nico Hoerner added an RBI-single in the 5th and Patrick Wisdom had an RBI-double in the 7th, his first extra-base hit since May 28.
That was all the support Taillon would need.
Taillon allowed a hit to the second batter of the game, Gleyber Torres, but he went into cruise control after that. He set down 13 hitters in a row after that, snapping the streak with two outs in the 5th on a Billy McKinney walk. He responded by getting Kyle Higashioka to lineout. It was a great return to Yankee Stadium, where he spent the last two seasons.
“I had the luxury of playing here for a couple of years and embraced it and loved the environment and loved the fans and all that,” Taillon said. “Definitely it felt good to be back. Playing in this environment didn’t catch me off-guard or anything. ”
Ten of the 24 outs (41.6%) Taillon recorded were groundballs. This season, he’s recorded just a 33.5% groundball percentage on balls in play — almost 10 points lower than his career-mark (43%). Friday night, Taillon looked more like the starter they had signed this offseason and both he and the Cubs will hope he can carry that over to the second half.
“I don’t know if Cubs fans truly know exactly what I’m about yet when I’m good or when I’m right,” Taillon said. “I’ve been putting in the work and it’s nice to see it come to fruition. Hopefully we can just keep knocking em out. This isn’t something to like jump for joy about.
“It’s definitely a nice night, but just I’ll take my notes and remember what I did well tonight and just carry it over to the second half.”