Cubs notes: Jameson Taillon's home run struggles, Jacob Webb stepping up and more

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By the end of the night, Taillon had taken the league lead in home runs given up, allowing five long balls, four to lefties, to a White Sox offense that thrives on power. “He threw some badly missed location pitches,” Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell said after his team fell 8-3 to the White Sox, with all eight runs scoring on homers. “And they put ’em in the seats.” Taillon had been pitching solidly of late, giving the team a 3.41 ERA in his last five starts while eating innings for a team that could desperately use that. But Saturday was not his night. Taillon, a fly-ball pitcher by nature, knows home runs will come. These types of outings, however, lead him to re-evaluate what he’s doing. “Right now, it feels like every mistake I am making, I feel like I need to be perfect,” Taillon said. “So I need to do a better job of giving myself a little more leeway. Every mistake seems to be a homer. That’s the game telling me to make an adjustment. I know it’s a part of my game, unfortunately, but it shouldn’t be to this extent.” Taillon said he needs to take more shots with four-seamers up and in and cutters off the plate in on their hands so the hitters aren’t able to sit on pitches he’s throwing away. Taillon was forced to wear it as Counsell tried his best to avoid going to a bullpen that’s short on long men after Ben Brown moved to the rotation and Javier Assad worked Friday night. But after a leadoff homer in the sixth, Counsell could push Taillon no further and went to his relievers. That group, despite a plethora of injuries, has been rather resilient. Ethan Roberts, who recently returned from a stint on the injured list, has a chance to earn some trust from Counsell. Roberts tossed two shutout frames Saturday and has yet to give up a run in 7 2/3 innings. Someone who has stepped up while other high-leverage relievers have gone on the shelf is Jacob Webb. Webb, a veteran signed for $1.5 million over the winter, started slowly for the Cubs. In his first four outings, Webb gave up five runs (three earned), but more concerning was that he walked four batters and looked to be laboring to get every out he recorded. But since then, Webb has had a 2.45 ERA in 14 2/3 innings with a 27.4 percent strikeout rate and 6.5 percent walk rate. “At the beginning of the season, I was still finding my pitches,” Webb said. “Fine-tuning everything. I was also probably pressing a little out of the gate, trying to perform. But I’m just going out there trying to be consistent and trying to get outs.” Webb’s changeup has been getting the most whiffs of his career at 49.3 percent. “It’s just execution of my pitches,” Webb said. “The changeup has always been my pitch. But I’m throwing the fastball in the correct areas now, which is helping the changeup get the swing-and-misses.” He also dumped his sweeper in April in favor of his curveball. He’s not throwing it that often (9 percent of the time in May), but it’s been effective. While Counsell continues to wait for his bullpen to get healthy — Caleb Thielbar threw an inning of relief in the minors and is expected to be back with the big-league club soon — he continues to preach that these injuries are an opportunity. Others are forced into situations they may not have been expected to fill before the season and either sink or swim. After a rocky start, Webb has proved to be a nice find. It’s hard to complain about a Cubs offense that has been among the best in baseball this season. But eight games into a nine-game trip, a big reason the Cubs have only three wins is that the bats have gone silent for stretches. Primarily, with runners in scoring position. Counsell will tell you these things happen, that the Cubs are an overall strong offense and will likely get back on track in these moments. And he’s right. The Cubs don’t have a high-strikeout roster and generally should come through. But on this trip, they’ve hit .194 with runners in scoring position. Eleven of the 14 hits they have in those situations during this stretch came in two games (both wins). Outside of just the situational moments, two players who have been mired in deep slumps in May are Moisés Ballesteros and Dansby Swanson, both of whom got Saturday off. Swanson has a 5 wRC+ this month, and Ballesteros is at a rough minus-24 wRC+. Two of the five home runs Taillon allowed came off the bat of Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami. That puts the lefty at 17 homers on the season, the second most in baseball. For a player who struggled to find a market in the offseason and had to settle for a short-term, prove-it deal with the White Sox, he’s certainly making a lot of teams look foolish for not investing in his talents. “I can’t really understand why 29 other teams weren’t interested,” Taillon said. “Some groupthink where people just decided they’re out on him. The whole league decided they’re out. It’s crazy to me. He can hit, he can put the ball in the seats, he’s young, he’s got a ton of juice, he’s got a presence up there, he controls the strike zone. He does a lot of things well. It’s crazy to me that more teams weren’t interested. Seems like he’s got a great fit here.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms