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Taillon’s Command and Pirates Poor Defense Leads to 11-5 Loss Against the Yankees

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PITTSBURGH — Jameson Taillon didn’t start throwing his two-seam fastball with regularity until he made his major-league debut less than a year ago.

Despite that, one of Taillon’s most enduring qualities in his short time in the majors has been command. Taillon walked just 17 batters in all of 2016 for a microscopic 1.47 BB/9.

In 2017 he hasn’t been quite as sharp. He walked three batters on Saturday in an 11-5 loss to the New York Yankees and is up to 10 in four appearances this season.

Taillon said that his command was “in and out” all afternoon. Despite that, he carried a no-hitter through 5 2/3 innings. But he ran into some trouble in the sixth and it was the two-seamer that let him down.

After Jacoby Ellsbury reached on an infield hit, Taillon went to the two-seamer for four of five pitches against Aaron Hicks, but found the strike zone just once, putting two men on. Taillon induced a grounder by Chase Headley with a changeup, but went back to the two-seamer for Starlin Castro.

Taillon painted the outside corner with a 95-mph offering, but it didn’t sink, remaining belt high and Castro was able to lift it into the bleachers in left field for a three-run home run.

Taillon was dealing with two separate issues with the pitch, which has become his primary offering. It wasn’t staying in the strike zone, and he was having trouble consistently keeping it down.

“It sunk pretty well a few times, but I thought I kind of smothered it down in the zone a few times,” Taillon said. “Instead of having it natural, I kind of forced it down. With that pitch, it’s one of those things. If it’s running, great. If not, you have to find a way to compete.”

Manger Clint Hurdle noted that Taillon was getting ahead of hitters, but then had trouble being more consistent with it after that.

“It was strike one and then it was a fight,” he said. “It was kind of weird because it’s a no-hitter for an extended period of time. However, the sink to the fastball was inconsistent. He went out and battled, man. He really battled and he pitched well. The ball started elevating and he gave up a three-run homer, then another double as an extra-base hit. He poured everything he had into it.”

With the pitch being relatively new to Taillon’s repertoire, and him having so much success with it since he’s been throwing it, making in-game adjustments to it isn’t something that he’s had to do often.

“When it’s right, it’s ahead of the rest of my game and when it’s not, maybe it’s something I’m not as familiar with making adjustments to,” he said. “Instead of taking a couple of innings to make an adjustment in the future, hopefully, it can be pitch to pitch.”

The walks, on the other hand, are a double-edged sword. On one had, Taillon has made it a point this season to be more careful with hitters, especially power hitters, in hitters’ counts. Sometimes a walk with a competitive pitch is better than giving up an extra base hit. He mentioned being careful with Kyle Schwarber in his last start against the Cubs as a strategy that worked and reasoned that his newfound carefulness is probably the driving force behind his increased walk rate.

“The walks I’ve had before this game were intentional,” he said. “I had said that last year. My goal was to learn how to throw more intentional balls — when to pitch around guys and when to attack them. Against the Cubs, I had walked Schwarber and a couple of other guys in big counts and it ended up working out for us.”

That also played out earlier in the game on Saturday, when Taillon walked Castro with a 3-2 fastball that was just off the plate inside. The bases had been empty and Taillon got Aaron Judge to ground into a double play the next at-bat, wiping Castro off the bases.

But when Taillon walked Hicks in the sixth inning, that was a matter of not being able to keep the two-seamer in the strike zone.

“I’m never going to walk a guy on purpose, a two-hole hitter with a guy that’s hot in the three and four hole coming up,” Taillon said. “That’s going to be a tough one to sleep on.

“A couple pitches there, I’m out of it and maybe going through seven. A leadoff hit goes off my glove, I walk a guy I shouldn’t walk and then a pitch [Castro] just jumps and I’m upset with my outing. If I catch the comebacker and don’t walk that guy, maybe [Castro] pops that pitch up, it’s a completely different story. Can’t get too down on yourself. I have another opportunity in five days.”

DEFENSE DEFICIENT

The Pirates defense didn’t help Taillon or the bullpen out. His fourth run allowed came home on a bad misplay by John Jaso on a lightly-hit ball straight at the right fielder off Juan Nicasio. Two runs scored on that play and two errors in the eighth by Adam Frazier and Andrew McCutchen contributed to a five-run inning — all of which were unearned.

“I think our overall defense has got to tighten up,” Hurdle said. “The problematic play tonight was at second base. The inning [Felipe] Rivero’s up there, that’s three outs. We’re off the field. It didn’t happen.”

CERVELLI BANGED UP

Francisco Cervelli was removed from the game after grounding out in the eighth inning. Cervelli gingerly ran out the ground ball and was replaced the next half inning by Chris Stewart.

After the game, the team gave conflicting reports about Cervelli.

“I think we had a … I think something was going on, so … I’m not quite sure what right now,” Hurdle said, while trainer Todd Tomczyk indicated that it was nothing serious.

Cervelli did not speak to the media after the game.

NOTES

McCutchen hit a solo home run and a sacrifice fly to finish with two RBIs. … David Freese also had a solo homer to give him three RBIs in his last two games. … Frazier and Jordy Mercer each also had RBI singles. … Rivero pitched 1.2 innings, his longest outing of the year.

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