Cubs 5, Rockies 0: a back injury halted Jameson Taillon.
That ought to be encouraging. Regretfully, Jameson Taillon, the scheduled starter, was not one of those pitchers.
Over the past few seasons, I’ve occasionally strolled over to the Cubs bullpen to film the starting pitcher warming up on Facebook Live. I opted to do it today for Jameson Taillon because I hadn’t done it yet this year—that is, until Shōta Imanaga’s start on Friday.
For that reason, I’ve included a video of Taillon having to be scratched from the game because of a back issue that developed during his warm-up:
You can see Taillon struggle with his final two deliveries before he exited the field to speak with Tommy Hottovy, the pitching coach, who quickly called up lefthander Thomas Pannone to begin warming up for the game. Taillon begins to cautiously walk away at the end of the video.
The Cubs do, at least, have some options if Taillon isn’t ready for Opening Day. Hayden Wesneski or Drew Smyly are the likely candidates to take Taillon’s rotation slot.
You know, sometimes you find something else when you lose something. forced into service, perhaps not anticipating to pitch for more than an inning On Saturday, Thomas Pannone tossed three scoreless innings while striking out two and giving up just a hit and a walk. He appeared to know what he was doing out there as he worked fast and threw strikes. Although Pannone has only played in one Spring Training game, he is now a possibility to consider this season as a lefty reliever. Although he is not on the Opening Day roster, this non-roster invitee is now likely assigned to Triple-A Iowa. Craig Counsell knows him well; Pannone spent the previous season with the Brewers organization, appearing in 11 games (nine starts) for Triple-A Nashville and one game for the main team. Thus, who knows? Here may be a handy lefty for the Cubs.
The Cubs scored all of their runs in the third inning, which began with a walk to Garrett Cooper and featured a great extended series of singles and doubles. Seiya Suzuki and Nico Hoerner each singled to load the bases following a strikeout.
Relievers Carl Edwards Jr., Adbert Alzolay, Hector Neris, Yency Almonte, Daniel Palencia, and Hunter Bigge combined for six scoreless innings, giving up two hits, one walk, and striking out seven. After that, it was all Cubs pitching. Only two Rockies runners crossed home plate: minor leaguer Braxton Fulford of the Rockies with two outs in the ninth inning and Alan Trejo’s double in the sixth inning.