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Pirates Beat the Brewers; Jameson Taillon Takes a Liner Off the Back of His Head

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PITTSBURGH — Jameson Taillon might be cursed.

The Pirates’ young right-hander was struck in the back of the head by a Hernan Perez line drive in the second inning of the Pirates’ 3-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday.

Taillon, Pirates’ first-round draft pick in 2010, missed two entire seasons of minor-league baseball on his way to the majors, undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2014 and sports hernia surgery in 2015. He returned to the mound in 2016 and pitched his way into the big-league rotation, only to have right shoulder fatigue shut him down for two weeks in the middle of the season.

In his return to the mound from that injury, Perez — the seventh batter he faced — hit a 2-1 pitch straight at the pitcher’s mound and it struck Taillon in the back of the head. Perez turned Taillon’s 94 MPH fastball around into a 105 MPH line drive that sailed clear into left field after impacting Taillon’s skull.

Taillon was knocked to the ground and was immediately attended to by trainers Todd Tomczyk and Ben Potenziano and team doctors. He remained conscious throughout and was surprisingly not even in that much pain.

“To be honest, I was waiting for it to hurt and stuff while I was down and I really felt good the whole way through,” Taillon said. “Coming off the DL and having been hurt the last couple of years, I wasn’t going to let something like that keep me down.”

Taillon’s memory of the play is still pretty sharp. He said he saw the replay once, but doesn’t plan to make it a habit going forward.

“I remember everything,” he said. “I saw it coming at me, turned from it and remember going down. I could feel it on my head a little bit, but I remained conscious, I saw where the play went. I answered all the questions they asked me. I wanted to get up quicker than I was able to.”

He wanted to get up because he was thinking of his parents and girlfriend and he wanted to let them know he was OK. Manager Clint Hurdle was thinking of Taillon’s family as well while he wrestled with the decision of whether to keep Taillon in the game after he was cleared by the medical staff.

“He’s got a mom and dad watching the game. I have a son,” Hurdle said. “This is one area that I’m not really comfortable with. I have to trust our people. They do know what they’re doing, how to follow protocol to test the player and the things to do. All the procedures that we have in place to follow played out on the field.”

Not even three minutes after he was struck, the 24-year-old hurler was back on the mound and firing. Not only did he stay in the game, Taillon performed well, holding the Brewers to one run on five hits in what turned out to be a six-inning performance.

“I felt like I dealt with it pretty well,” Taillon said. “I definitely had some adrenaline after. I thought some of my pitches were up afterwards. It’s tough to control the emotions right after that. I was able to keep the team in the game, held a 2-1 lead, and we ended up winning, so I’m pretty happy.”

Taillon threw only 65 pitches, but given the nature of his scare in the second and it being his first start back from the disabled list, Hurdle thought a quick hook was prudent.

“It’s a hard decision,” he said. “Sixty-five pitches, that’s a hard number because it’s low and he did look sharp. If we get the pinch-hitter up [in the bottom of the sixth], it takes care of itself. I made the best decision I thought for him and for the club.”

Taillon said before the game that he wanted to get back to pitching right where he left off, and for the most part, he was able to do that. The Brewers only advanced runners into scoring position twice, while Taillon was able to get ten outs on ground balls, partially thanks to the continued emergence of his two-seam fastball.

“I was happy with how I felt, coming out with no rehab starts, just throwing bullpens,” he said. “This was my first time facing hitters in a while. [I was] a little rusty, but my stuff felt crisp and it’s something to build on for next time.”

Hurdle was impressed with the way that Taillon was able to battle not only through the scary moment, but to navigate his was to a sold start while not having his best stuff.

“His best two innings were his last two,” Hurdle said. “To make pitches and only give up one run through six and really not get the ball where he wanted to get it was impressive.”

WALK IT OFF IN STYLE

The Pirates held a 2-1 lead through most of the game, but Mark Melancon had his second consecutive blown save, allowing a run on a walk and two singles in the ninth. But the Pirates bounced right back, as Harrison led off the home half of the inning with a long fly ball of the wall in right center.

Harrison aggressively turned toward third, and the relay throw from second baseman Scooter Gennett sailed past third base, allowing Harrison to score.

“It probably would have taken a perfect throw and been bang-bang,” Harrison said. “I saw him jump for the wall, and from there I never broke stride. I was going to make him make a perfect relay. The odds of that happening two games in a row, I was going to take my chances.”

MANY RETURNS

Catcher Francisco Cervelli and right fielder Gregory Polanco both made their returns to the lineup, as well. Cervelli was 0 for 2 with a sacrifice fly, a walk and a stolen base. Polanco was 0 for 3 with a walk and a run.

Polanco’s hamstring injury has been mostly affecting him on defense, and he basically got another night off on that front. Taillon and the bullpen did and excellent job of keeping the ball in the infield and as a result, Polanco’s defensive effort was limited to scooping up Jonathan Lucroy’s ground single in the first inning. He was able to get stretched out running to first, though.

“Polanco’s time down the line in the fifth inning, with the shot he hit to shortstop, that was very reassuring, they way he got down the line,” Hurdle said.

Cervelli’s hamate bone injury, on the other hand, allowed him to perform most of his catching duties, but swinging the bat was still painful at times. His debut didn’t include a hit, but his well-struck fly ball that scored Andrew McCutchen got his hand right back into the swing of things.

“I thought the disciple, the recognition was good,” Hurdle said. “The game calling, the trip he made for Watson, going out in the eight inning. I thought the ownership of the box was in a very good place. The sac fly, the walk. I liked the way both him and Polanco did things.”

NOTES

Neftali Feliz and Tony Watson each pitched a scoreless, hitless inning. … Jordy Mercer dropped a ball that should have been a double play, but ended up record one out in the second inning and had an error in the third inning. … David Freese started at third base and went 1 for 4 with an RBI single in the first. … Mercer hit a leadoff triple in the seventh, but was stranded. … John Jaso was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts.



UP NEXT

Jeff Locke will make his first start of the second half against right-hander Chase Anderson. Locke’s last outing came out of the bullpen, when he pitched 2.1 scoreless innings against the Chicago Cubs on July 10. He gave up five runs in four innings in his last start. Anderson has a 5.44 ERA and a 5.61 FIP.

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