PHILADELPHIA — Jameson Taillon said he did not feel the weight of a four-game losing streak on his shoulders Tuesday afternoon.
Losing to the last-place Phillies on Monday dropped the Pirates to nine games under .500, yet Taillon did not feel pressure.
Panic did not even set in when his curveball was ineffective in his pregame bullpen session, or when that carried over into the first inning.
He responded in a way that both Clint Hurdle and his catcher, Chris Stewart, said is rare for a player with only 29 career major-league starts, but neither was surprised that Taillon was able to throw five scoreless innings in a 3-0 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
Taillon struck out a career-high nine batters — the most by a Pirates pitcher this season — in only his fifth start since returning from testicular cancer surgery and did so when his teammates needed a lift.
"He's young, but he's mature," Stewart told DKPittsburghSports.com. "It’s amazing after what he's been through. It goes to show the guy he is. Even cancer isn’t going to get the best of him. It’s amazing what he’s able to do."
The right-hander threw 102 pitches, 64 for strikes, but only 10 of those strikes were on the first pitch. With the Pirates' struggling offense mustering only five hits — two of which were solo home runs by Andrew McCutchen — Taillon's start was key to keeping the deficit in the NL Central at seven games since the Brewers also won.
The Phillies had the wherewithal to lay off Taillon's two-seam fastball, which had the pitcher behind in the count for much of the game, but he was able to escape trouble when it arrived.
The Phillies, who remain the worst team in Major League Baseball with a 28-54 record, had one hit in each of the first four innings, including a one-out double in the first and a two-out triple in the third. That's when Taillon leaned on his curveball.
He got a strikeout in the first inning using it and got Maikel Franco to fly out to left to end the third. After Josh Harrison committed an error in the fourth and Odubel Herrera singled, Taillon struck out back-to-back hitters, with the curveball being the decisive pitch against Andrew Knapp for the third out:
"He definitely has one of the better curveballs in the game," McCutchen said.
Taillon issued a one-out walk in the fifth, but struck out Aaron Altherr with his tailing two-seam fastball and got Franco to pop out to maintain the 1-0 lead. Hurdle described Taillon's ability to remain unaffected by adversity as an "outlier" for a pitcher with his lack of experience. The 25-year-old made his major-league debut on June 8, 2016.
Chosen with the second pick in the 2010 MLB Draft, Taillon missed the 2014 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery and did not play in 2015 after having sports hernia surgery. After reaching the major leagues and having a 3.31 ERA through six starts this season, Taillon underwent surgery for testicular cancer.
Twenty days later, he made his first rehab start with Double-A Altoona. Less than two months after surgery, he has a team-best 2.73 ERA and a 5-2 record, earning the win Tuesday.
"This guy is an outlier in a lot of different ways," Hurdle said before Tuesday's game. "We’ve talked about it different times, again to go back to his two years away, this man put it to use like nobody I have ever run across before. To plug into a rehabilitation program mentally and physically, to plug into the people he was working with, every day the commitment to the program, the discipline, the perseverance, the resiliency throughout it all. He physically got stronger, he mentally got tougher."
Of his five starts since returning, three have lasted only five innings, though he was lifted for a pinch-hitter on two occasions. His pitching line paints a different picture though, with a 1.98 ERA in 27 1/3 innings with 29 strikeouts and nine walks, allowing only six runs.
He's been a valuable addition for a rotation that has been inconsistent as of late, yet Taillon said he needs to start lowering his pitch count to give the Pirates a better chance of winning.
"I need to get better with that," Taillon said. "Maybe we’ll look at something with my pregame routine. I felt like I was making good pitches. Even some of the hits, some of the walks. With the guys getting on I still felt like a lot of them were really competitive pitches. I don’t want to change anything too much. I just want to keep going."
Unlike in recent weeks, the Pirates' bullpen was also able to pitch through trouble. Tony Watson loaded the bases with two walks and a single in the seventh. Juan Nicasio then entered and got an inning-ending double play before pitching a clean eighth inning after a 22-minute rain delay.
After allowing a one-out walk and a single in the ninth, Felipe Rivero got two strikeouts on six total pitches to record his fourth save of the season, improving the Pirates' record to 38-46.
"I feel strong," Taillon said. "I feel good. There’s some consistency things I can probably hammer down, but I’m feeling as good as I’ve felt all year. I’m in a good place. I just need to keep my head down and keep going."
LANCE’S THREE THOUGHTS
• A surge like McCutchen's is not common, especially when you consider how he was at such a low point when reaching the Mendoza line on May 23.
The former National League MVP was not distraught when it happened in Atlanta. He was uncommonly confident that time and effort would heal what had ailed him at the plate for so long and that's how it's unfolded. With the Pirates’ offense needing life Tuesday, McCutchen delivered with his 15th and 16th home runs of the season in the sixth and eighth innings:
He continues to be the lone bright spot for the Pirates’ offense, which batted .196 with a .281 on-base percentage and 78 strikeouts in its previous 11 games entering Tuesday, and now has the third-lowest batting average in the National League (.241).
"I don’t overthink, I don’t think about it too much, I love it," McCutchen said of his surge. "I think about it all day. Because you go through these stretches, but for me, I’m just trying to remain consistent with where I’m at. I don’t think about anything past how I felt and it’s just having that same feeling tomorrow. I’m going in and I’m going to be preparing the same way I have been preparing. And I’m cool. I’m good with it. Why not? This was a good game. Just show up tomorrow to try to do the same thing, ready to go."
• The bullpen has not gone as planned, but there are signs that progress is being made.
Daniel Hudson, who had an 8.49 ERA through his first 14 appearances, is not pitching in the eighth inning as the Pirates had expected, but he's starting to carve out a role as a versatile arm.
He pitched a scoreless sixth inning, striking out Tommy Joseph and Herrera with his sweeping slider. Since May 1, Hudson has a 2.55 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 24 2/3 innings, though he has 13 walks over that span.
Nicasio was outstanding again, particularly when escaping the bases-loaded jam after Watson was pulled.
"He showed up big for us," Hurdle said. "It’s efficient, big outs. ... Yeah, he was a big reason why we were able to win that game."
Rivero now has a 0.80 ERA with 51 strikeouts in 45 innings. The rest of the bullpen is somewhat of a mystery, but those three relievers are so important to the Pirates' success.
• The results still aren’t there for Gregory Polanco, but he is confident a breakthrough is near. The Pirates’ right fielder singled in the second inning, lining a fastball to right.
He failed to record a hit in his final three at-bats, flying out to right twice and once to left. He’s now in an 8-for-38 slump and his average has dipped to .246, but he is starting to make hard contact and seems to be just a split second too early or too late most times.
It’s not for a lack of effort. Hurdle and hitting coach Jeff Branson have used the plan that resurrected McCutchen’s swing as a template to help Polanco.
There’s a focus on repetition to shorten his swing, which is important for him to start hitting breaking pitches. His confidence has not wavered, though. This is actually as upbeat as I’ve seen him this season.
“For sure, I’m getting close,” Polanco said. “I feel a lot better than what I felt a month ago or three weeks ago. I’m feeling better, but I’m trying to get a contact point right. I’m missing. I’m way in front or late. I’m trying to get in there. That’s probably where I can hit in a good spot and you learn from repetition.”
ON DECK
Gerrit Cole takes the mound for the third game of the series on Wednesday after allowing seven runs on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings last Friday against the Giants. He’lll face the Phillies’ Ben Lively with first pitch at 7:05 p.m.