Astros 2, Cubs 0: Jameson Taillon threw 107 pitches. A bad one cost them the game

… and that, as they say, was that.

What an odd little game this was, the Cubs’ 2-0 loss to the Astros Sunday afternoon.

Of course, you’re not going to win many games when you have just six hits and go 1-for-9 with RISP.

But what I also want to talk about is Jameson Taillon’s outing. He threw a ridiculous number of pitches in the first inning alone, 30 in all. Seventeen of those pitches were foul balls, eight of those by Isaac Paredes, who really made Taillon work in a 12-pitch at-bat that ended with a single.

Taillon managed to get out of that inning scoreless, as he did in the second, third and fourth, but the pitch count continued to rise. Through four innings he had thrown 90 pitches, which is… a lot. I had no problem with Craig Counsell leaving Taillon out there for the fifth, especially in a scoreless game.

Once again in the fifth, Paredes fouled off a whole bunch of pitches. All told, of the 107 pitches Taillon threw, 34 (!) were foul balls, and 17 of those fouls — exactly half — were hit by Paredes.

So with one on and two out in the fifth, it was clear that Jose Altuve was going to be Taillon’s last batter. Either he retires him and finishes five scoreless, or… well, you know what happened, Altuve homered with a runner on base and that was all the scoring for the game.

Incidentally, about that homer (Bluesky link):

Beyond that, Altuve’s fly ball had an XBA (expected batting average) of .120. So that‘s an 88 percent chance that ball should have been an out!

The Cubs had very few chances to score in this game, shut down by Framber Valdez and two Houston relievers, Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader, and Hader I don’t need to remind you about from his Milwaukee days.

Jon Berti — hey, remember him? — singled with one out in the third and stole second. There’s a runner in scoring position! He advanced to third on a ground out by Ian Happ, but when Kyle Tucker also grounded out, inning over.

And about that steal, from BCB’s JohnW53:

Berti’s third-inning steal was the Cubs’ 100th. This is the 15th season since 1901 in which the Cubs have reached triple digits in steals in 84 games or less, but just the second in more than a century.T

hey swiped 101 in 1985, with the 100th coming in game number 81. The previous such season was 1923, when the 100th came in game 83.

The Cubs had at least 100 steals through 84 games in every season from 1901-15 except 1909 and 1914. Their high was 165, in 1906; their low, 100, in 1912.

As I wrote here last month, the Cubs will likely wind up this season with the most steals they’ve had since 1911.

The only other real scoring chance the Cubs had was in the seventh. Carson Kelly led off with a double. Nico Hoerner then hit a little popup that Altuve couldn’t handle. It was initially ruled an error, then changed to a hit. So, runners on first and second, nobody out, tying run on base.

Nope. Michael Busch popped up and Abreu struck out Vidal Bruján and Ian Happ, inning over.

On the broadcast, Jim Deshaies mentioned that perhaps Counsell should have sent Brujan as a pinch-hitter for Justin Turner and maybe try to bunt the runners up a base — and then send Busch to bat for Berti. Alas, that is not what happened.

The Cubs went down 1-2-3 in the eighth and ninth and that was that.

Say, I see I’m 600 words into this recap and I haven’t posted a single video clip. So here, have a couple. Taillon struck out four [VIDEO].

Here’s more on Taillon’s outing [VIDEO].

And here’s a nice defensive play by Swanson in the sixth [VIDEO].

Some facts about this shutout from BCB’s JohnW53:

Going into today, the Cubs had been shut out only four times this season, all on the road, including one other time by 2-0, at Washington. They were tied with the Astros and Dodgers for third fewest times shut out. The Red Sox had been blanked three times and the Diamondbacks just once.

The Cubs made five hits twice in the previous shutout losses, four once and two once.

They struck out 11 times today. In the earlier shutouts, they fanned 12, 11, 11 and 8 times.

The Cardinals and Reds both won Sunday, so the Cubs lead the Cardinals by 2½ and the Reds by five. At this writing the Brewers and Rockies have just gone to the 11th inning tied 3-3. Hey, Rockies! Maybe you can do the Cubs a favor today.

The Cubs have Monday off, certainly welcome after playing 12 of the last 13 days (and it’s really 13 in a row, as the rainout June 18 against the Brewers isn’t really a true “off day”). They will open a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians Tuesday evening at Wrigley Field. Matthew Boyd will start for the Cubs and Gavin Williams goes for Cleveland. Game time Tuesday is 7:05 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.