Taillon seeks – Jameson Taillon dug through the aftermath of allowing five home runs in a single start, leaving him atop the majors with 20 homers allowed in nine starts. The Cubs also moved Javier Assad to Triple-A Iowa to stretch out, selected Ty Blach’s contract, placed Hu
There’s a particular kind of failure that pitchers don’t usually live long enough to see—allowing five home runs in one game. Jameson Taillon did it Saturday night at Rate Field, and it left the Cubs with little margin to work with while the damage piled up.
Only one other pitcher this season. Bryan Bello of the Red Sox. had been taken deep five times in a game.. For the Cubs. it hasn’t been common in recent history either: only six Cubs pitchers this century have allowed five or more in a start. with the most recent previous example coming from Matt Swarmer. who surrendered six solo home runs to the Yankees four years ago at Yankee Stadium.
After the White Sox’s barrage, Taillon found himself in an uncomfortable position even before the inning-by-inning details could fade.. He was leading the majors in home runs surrendered at 20.. That number came in just nine starts spanning 50⅔ innings—an average that he and the team will know doesn’t fit the kind of profile that holds up over a full season. especially for a contending club.
Taillon isn’t pretending the problem is new. He has allowed 20 or more home runs in each of the last seven seasons, including this one. Still, this outing was different enough that the talk shows and Twitterverse found plenty to mock, turning his start into something bigger than one bad game.
“It’s an interesting thing,” the 10-year veteran said. “Because on the one hand, what I’m doing has worked in the past, and I just had a string of really good starts. So it’s not like I’ve got to rewrite the book or change everything.”
Home runs, though, stayed at the center of what he called the real issue.. “But home runs are a problem.. I just need to find a way to limit those,” Taillon said.. He described how much of his approach can be boiled down to pitch to handedness—“Taking a bird’s-eye view. is it predictability?. I throw six pitches. but to righties I really throw three and to lefties I throw three”—and then questioned whether he was becoming too consistent in who he was choosing to challenge.
“I mean, I can do it, but we’re just gonna take a look at everything,” he said. “Throw more fastballs in to lefties, throw more fastballs up, just make them more aware of different areas of the zone because right now I’m not getting away with anything.”
Taillon also pushed back against the idea that he’s trying to live in the strike zone with obvious “mistake” pitches.. “Watch any big-league game,” he said, “and so-called ‘mistake’ pitches don’t all wind up in the seats.. They get fouled off or popped up, but, man, at the end of the day, homers are thrown, not hit.”
He acknowledged that, regardless of his intent, results have been showing a vulnerability. “It’s not like I’m out there throwing every pitch down the middle, but unfortunately, with my release and my stuff and how I go about it, I am prone to giving up homers.”
The response he outlined was about forcing hitters into more choices. “I just think for me it’s like not to be scared of throwing in the zone, but let’s move their eyes around, let’s throw fastballs in, let’s make them think about the cutter, slider, curve. Let’s make them think about everything.”
The pattern tightened quickly: five homers in one start helped push Taillon to 20 home runs surrendered in nine starts and 50⅔ innings, and his own explanation kept returning to predictability—who he throws to, and which areas of the zone hitters are able to sit on.
Assad to get stretched out
The Cubs responded to the situation with moves of their own. They sent right-hander Javier Assad to Triple-A Iowa with the intention of stretching him out as a starter, manager Craig Counsell said Sunday.
They also selected the contract of left-landed reliever Ty Blach and moved reliever Hunter Harvey to the 60-day injured list to create a roster spot.. Blach’s promotion was likely a one-day thing.. Caleb Thielbar was at Rate Field and is expected to be activated as soon as Monday for the game against the Brewers.
Brewers’ ‘The Miz’ on tap
Looking ahead, the Cubs are scheduled to face Brewers phenom Jacob Misiorowski on Tuesday. The right-hander averages 99.6 mph on his fastball and threw 10 fastballs 103 mph or faster against the Yankees earlier this month, topping out at 103.6 mph.
Jameson Taillon Cubs home runs allowed Javier Assad Ty Blach Hunter Harvey Caleb Thielbar Craig Counsell Jacob Misiorowski Milwaukee Brewers Rate Field MLB
5 homers?? Dude is just getting left in the dust every start.
So they moved Assad to Triple-A to fix it but Taillon still giving up bombs. Sounds like the Cubs pitching staff is cursed or something. I don’t even get how you can be “leading” in homers allowed… like congrats?
Taillon “reels after five-homer night” but isn’t that just like… what happens when the defense isn’t playing right? Like if the Cubs can’t field then the pitching gets blamed. Also why is he leading majors in HR allowed already, that feels fake.
Maybe Rate Field is just that hitter-friendly and that’s all this is, but of course everyone is acting like it’s the end of his career. They said he’s allowed 20+ HR in each of the last seven seasons, which is wild, like why is he still “on top” anything? And swapping guys to Iowa and calling up Blach… seems like panic. I swear the pitching coach needs to explain what the plan is.