Taillon Allows Five Homers in Cubs' 8-3 White Sox Score Loss
Jameson Taillon allowed five home runs and the Chicago Cubs lost 8-3 to the Chicago White Sox in the white sox score on Saturday night. The outing left Chicago with another hard number to absorb, because all eight White Sox runs came on homers.
Taillon on the South Side
Craig Counsell did not soften the breakdown. “He threw some badly missed location pitches,” he said after the 8-3 loss, adding, “And they put ’em in the seats.” Taillon said, “Right now, it feels like every mistake I am making, I feel like I need to be perfect,” after a night when the White Sox kept punishing anything left in the wrong spot.
Taillon entered play with the second-most home runs allowed in baseball at 11, and Saturday pushed that problem deeper. He gave up eight runs in all, a line that came against a White Sox team that had already hit the fourth most home runs in baseball with 59 before the game.
Webb and Roberts Hold Up
While Taillon got tagged, the Cubs found a small lift from the bullpen. Ethan Roberts worked two shutout innings and has not allowed a run in 7 2/3 innings, a useful stretch for a staff that has had to cover extra ground.
Jacob Webb has been part of that effort too. He has a 2.45 ERA in 14 2/3 innings since his slow start, along with a 27.4 percent strikeout rate and a 6.5 percent walk rate. Webb said, “At the beginning of the season, I was still finding my pitches,” and added, “But I’m just going out there trying to be consistent and trying to get outs.”
Cubs Need More Length
The bullpen depth has mattered more because Ben Brown moved to the rotation and Javier Assad worked Friday night, leaving the Cubs short on long men. Webb’s rebound has also been tied to a change in approach: he signed for $1.5 million over the winter, gave up five runs, three earned, in his first four outings, and then swapped out his sweeper for a curveball in April.
The curveball was thrown 9 percent of the time in May, while his changeup has drawn whiffs 49.3 percent of the time, the best rate of his career. For a Cubs staff managing injuries, the relief work behind Taillon has started to stabilize, but Saturday showed how quickly one bad start can drag the whole night into the seats.
