Taillon rocked as Cubs blanked by Braves |
ATLANTA - Anytime you have an opportunity to beat the Atlanta Braves (26-13), especially at Truist Park, you need to capitalize on those chances. The Chicago Cubs (24-19) couldn't do that on Monday as they fell to the Braves 2-0.
Holding that offense to just two runs is no easy feat, but not being able to beat them when their offense had a down night is considered a missed opportunity and one the Cubs would love to have back. You knew that at some point, the Braves' relentless offense was going to start clicking, and that came at the expense of Jameson Taillon on Tuesday as he suffered his first loss of the season, 7-0. That makes back-to-back shutout losses for an offense that has been struggling for over a month, as this team is in survival mode right now. Although the walks didn't help Taillon, he is still posting a 1.61 ERA for the season, as this loss wasn't entirely on him. Sure, the final line will show that he allowed seven runs in four innings, but when only two of those runs are earned, it shows how poorly the defense played as the Braves used a six-run fourth inning to put the game away. Jameson Taillon, Nasty 83mph Sweeper. 😨 pic.twitter.com/XJSWY4AlIi That was more than enough for Chris Sale, who has to be the comeback player of the year through the season's first six weeks. Once one of the better starters in baseball, Sale has dealt with massive injury setbacks the past four seasons and found himself traded to Atlanta this offseason. Apparently, all he needed was a change of scenery, as he has gone 6-1 to start the season and has an ERA of 2.54. His success continued on Tuesday as he pitched seven shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out nine in what was a vintage Sale performance. Not only are the Cubs having a tough time scoring runs, but the injuries continue to mount, and two more potential injuries could be on the horizon. Prior to the game, Nico Hoerner was scratched from the lineup after being diagnosed with the dreaded Hamstring tightness. Christopher Morel is also playing banged up, and at this point, the Cubs are just hoping to have enough healthy bodies to remain competitive. Playing short-handed against the Braves is never easy, and the Cubs had their work cut out for them before this game kicked off. After Cody Bellinger picked up a one-out single in the first, Morel was hit by a pitch to put two on base, as this was one of the better scoring chances for the Cubs. Nothing came from that chance, which has been the theme lately, and that doesn't bode well for a team in desperate need of offense. The same can't be said for the Braves, whose offense got rolling quickly as Ozzie Albies and Marcell Ozuna delivered consecutive singles to put Taillon in a first-inning jam. If Albies could play the Cubs every game, he would be the MVP, as his success against this team is unreal. Already with two hits in the inning, Matt Olson made it three as his RBI double put the Braves in front for good 1-0. Olson was just getting started as he had one of his better nights of the season. After struggling out of the gates, Taillon settled in as he took care of the Braves the next two innings to keep things close. Mastrobuoni Mastery 🪄 pic.twitter.com/qRGCc0bdjX Considering how Sale was carving up the Cubs on the other end, the Cubs needed that from him as his excellent start to the season continued. The fourth inning is where things came undone for the Cubs as Michael Harris led off the bottom of the fourth with a solo blast to make things 2-0. That was followed by an error, a walk, and the Jarred Kelenic single, and once again, the Braves had the bases loaded, but this time with no outs. The Braves added another run on a wild pitch, and after another walk, Atlanta kept the pressure on with Ozuna making things 4-0 with a sacrifice fly. The big blow in that inning came off the bat of Olson, who connected for his fifth homer of the season as the Braves opened up a 7-0 lead. Five of the six runs allowed in that inning were unearned as the Cubs defense continues to be spotty at best. If there were a positive to take away from this game, it would be the performance of the Cubs pen as they threw four scoreless frames in the loss. Jose Cuas was the first man out of the pen as he made his first appearance since April and delivered a pair of scoreless innings. He turned things over to the newly acquired Tyson Miller, who lowered his ERA to 2.63 after two strong innings. It took the Cubs six innings between hits, as Nick Madrigal added a single in the seventh and Patrick Wisdom added a double in the eighth. The Wisdom double was not only the Cubs' lone extra-base hit in this game, but going back to Monday, it was the lone extra-base hit of the series, as Aaron Bummer and Jackson Stephens finished things off for the shutout win. The Cubs will look to salvage the series finale on Wednesday to finish with a .500 road trip as Javier Assad takes the ball against Charlie Morton. The first pitch is set for 6:20 PM as the team awaits and injury update on Hoerner. “Fourth inning just got away from me there.”
Jameson Taillon on his start. pic.twitter.com/ZBGKSTE7sf
