Jameson Taillon lifted his glove to his face and let out a roar. It was a rare display of raw emotion. Taillon couldn't hold back, though. His slider to the Brewers' Lorenzo Cain resulted in a third consecutive strikeout to end the fifth inning, stranding two runners in scoring position.
"I was fired up," Taillon confirmed.
That swing and miss gave Taillon a career-high 10 strikeouts, and his offense, led by Jordy Mercer's four RBIs, backed him with a three-run sixth, as the Pirates beat the Brewers, 6-3, Thursday night at PNC Park. The scream into the leather was as much frustration as it was elation. Taillon needed 18 pitches to get through the fifth, and the 27-year-old barely escaped another short start.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEO"That’s one of those things where you’re mad that you put yourself in that situation with a leadoff walk and a hit to [Erik] Kratz there. You find yourself in a tough spot," Taillon said. "I was mad to be there, but you can’t really dwell on it."
It looked like Taillon was pitching to prove a point. He threw six scoreless innings against the Phillies last Saturday, only to be removed after throwing his 77th pitch. Taillon expressed his frustration with the quick hook afterwards and met with Clint Hurdle the following morning to discuss the decision.
Taillon didn't find any additional motivation in Hurdle's decision. Instead, he analyzed what worked so well against the Phillies, when he struck out six with no walks. Taillon threw his two-seam fastball low and away for strikes, while attacking left-handers up and in with four-seamers.
He also began to throw his curveball — the breaking pitch that made him one of the best prospects in all of baseball — with authority. That same recipe stunned the first-place Brewers (55-39). Taillon allowed only four hits, one of which was a solo home run by Jesus Aguilar, and pitched through the sixth inning for the sixth time in his past 10 starts.
He struck out Cain in the first with an elevated fastball, and Christian Yelich, a left-hander, with a curveball low and inside on a 3-2 count. "It’s my best pitch, so I threw it," Taillon said.
Josh Harrison, standing in the home clubhouse, nodded his head across the room towards Taillon's locker and added: "I knew from the first inning it was going to be a special night for him."
Taillon allowed a pair of two-out singles in the second, only to strike out Kratz looking with a curveball at the knees. He then struck out Wade Miley, Eric Thames and Cain in order to retire the side in the third. His only mistake was a slider down the middle in the fourth that Aguilar, an All-Star first baseman, hit 372 feet to left-center for a solo home run.
Neal Huntington cited Taillon's opponents' .837 OPS the third time through the order as one reason why Hurdle was quick to pull Taillon in the seventh inning last Saturday. He had no such trouble this time. Taillon walked Tyler Saladino on five pitches to lead off the fifth and lined a fastball to left to put runners on the corners with no outs.
Taillon struck out Miley with a curveball to turn the lineup over, and Thames, who has hit 43 home runs over the past two seasons, struck out swinging at this curveball:
Cain, also an All-Star, drew the count even by watching a curveball tail out of the zone, only to miss this slider for strike three:
"Number one, it’s just that I need to realize that I have really good stuff," Taillon said. "And I’m OK to grind if I have to — if I need to strap it on, if I don’t have it, I’m more than happy just to grind it out. But with the stuff I have, I was kind of sick of battling and walking guys and finding myself in crappy situations all the time. I just wanted to put an end to that."
Taillon owns a 3.23 ERA with 55 strikeouts to 14 walks over his past nine starts. He hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in a game during that span and hasn't walked more than three batters in a game all season. The right-hander threw 64.5 percent of his 95 pitches for strikes, producing 12 swinging strikes, including six by his curveball.
"Just goes to show you what kind of stuff he can bring to the table on any given night," Hurdle said.
He has a 1.22 WHIP with 103 strikeouts to 30 walks in 19 starts this season, and the Pirates' starters have combined to allow 10 earned runs over their last 34 1/3 innings. Taillon's effort, though, wouldn't have mattered had the offense — which had scored only three runs in its previous 24 innings — struggled again.
Mercer, Harrison and Josh Bell reached safely in 10 of their 11 plate appearances. Mercer went 3 for 4 with RBI singles in the second and fourth innings, as well as a two-run single in the sixth. Harrison, who went 2 for 2 with two walks, added an RBI double in the seventh.
The Brewers had the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning after two hits and an error; however, Felipe Vazquez got Aguilar to ground into a double play to end the game. The Pirates, now 44-49 and 10 1/2 games back in the Central Division, have won four of their past five games.
They're still eight games back in the Wild Card with five teams to jump; however, three of their struggling hitters seemed to find an answer and the ace of their rotation tamed a talented lineup.
"You don’t want to live and die by the strikeout, but whenever you need it, you definitely want to be able to get it," Taillon said. "I felt like I got some pretty big ones in big spots."
1. Harrison finds a solution.
Hurdle can be candid when describing what is at the root of a hitter's struggles, but he had no interest in revealing details when asked about Harrison's three-week-long slump before the game.
"You can figure that one out; watch the games, watch the swings," Hurdle said. "I am not going to share hitters’ breakdowns mechanically when we are playing a team in town."
The problem was actually quite simple. Upon returning from the disabled list in May, Harrison closed his stance to better protect himself from hit-by-pitches. The adjustment didn't affect him at first, but his batting average has dropped 30 points in the past three weeks, as he batted .171 with a .381 OPS in his previous 18 games.
He struck out 14 times with two walks in that span. Also, the 31-year-old had a ground-ball rate of 52 percent and opposing pitchers had a 70 percent first-pitch strike rate against him. So, he's opened his stance back up, and the simple adjustment paid off immediately.
Harrison, Bell and Mercer combined to see 54 pitches in their 12 plate appearances. Bell walked three times, and Harrison had a two-walk game for the first time since opening day in Detroit. He also made hard contact on his single in the sixth and on this changeup for an RBI double in the seventh:
"Sometimes we do things we shouldn’t and it puts us in a spot where we don’t want to be," Harrison said. "Granted, I was doing it to protect my hand, but no excuse. I was just missing pitches. That’s baseball. You don’t get the results when you miss pitches. Tonight was just a case of me getting pitches. I’ve been getting those pitches the past couple of weeks and been fouling them off, so the work I’ve been putting in has definitely been paying off."
2. Mercer will be in demand.
Mercer, now 31, ranks seventh all-time in the 132-year history of the Pirates with 737 games at shortstop, and he's showing he still belongs. He ripped a pair of doubles down the left-field line Wednesday, including one in the third before he scored on Starling Marte's homer, and has five hits in his past seven at-bats.
Mercer batted .164 over his previous 17 games entering Wednesday. That dropped his season slash line to .242/.303/.377. He ranks 21st among major league shortstops in fWAR and 19th in defensive runs saved. However, he's a capable defender who is a career .295 hitter against left-handed pitchers. Plus, he could potentially play both middle infield spots, while providing both leadership and postseason experience.
He's owed less than $3 million the rest of the season and was fairly productive not long ago. He batted .284 with a .825 OPS in 41 games from May 6 to June 29. Simply put, he'll be in demand when the Pirates do begin to aggressively shop him, and it sounds like Mercer found an answer to what ailed him at the plate for the past three weeks.
"I had to go back and look at some film," Mercer said. "There was something a tick off, I feel like. Yeah, I was still getting good contact, but swinging at pitches I wasn’t really supposed to be swinging at, chasing stuff out of the zone. ... And I was able to catch a little bit on film. Went back to some old stuff and caught a few things. Incorporated it in my swing the past couple days, and I feel like I’m in a better spot."
3. Don't blame Feliz or Hurdle for the ninth.
Tyler Glasnow needed 22 pitches to get through a scoreless eighth inning, as he walked Aguilar and allowed a single to Travis Shaw. With a doubleheader Saturday, Hurdle didn't want to risk having Glasnow unavailable for two days, so he used Michael Feliz, who had an 8.59 ERA in his past 12 outings, in the ninth.
Feliz got a fly out before Kratz hit a ball off Mercer's glove for a single, and Mercer committed an error when he dropped a throw from Feliz at second base for what would have been a force out. Feliz then allowed a single and walked Yelich to load the bases before Hurdle called on Vazquez.
Vazquez barely avoided disaster when Yelich ripped a ball down the left-field line that was initially ruled fair but quickly ruled foul by third-base umpire Paul Nauert. Yelich then singled through the right side before Vazquez got the double play.
Don't blame Hurdle or Feliz here. With Steven Brault struggling, the Pirates couldn't afford to be without Glasnow for two games, plus a five-run cushion should be enough. Feliz has been terrible, but he did throw two scoreless innings Tuesday. Plus, Mercer should have caught the ball at second.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Pirates vs. Brewers, PNC Park, July 12, 2018. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS