Pittsburgh Pirates: Taillon Ending Season on a High Note

The Pittsburgh Pirates are fighting for a winning record this season.  The team got a big boost last night in a win from their ace.

He is finally turning into what the Pittsburgh Pirates and many others had hoped.  Jameson Taillon looks like the front of the rotation starter that the team hoped he would be when they drafted him.  Taillon showed it again last night.

Taillon went to the hill opposite of the lefty Cole Hamels. Taillon out dueled Hamels, who has had a much better season since joining the Cubs at the trade deadline.  Taillon threw seven innings last night and only gave up one run.  The one run was very ironic as it came off the bat of the pitcher Cole Hamels in the third inning. Still, he punched out five batters, walked three, and scattered four other hits across his seven innings.

This impressive start was Taillon’s second to last on the season.  He earned his 14th win and now has set himself up to get his 15th win later this week.  While wins is a stat that does not really reveal much about a pitcher, it still is considered a good milestone to reach.  Taillon will look to do it his next time out against the Cincinnati Reds.

This is just another start in a long line of impressive ones.  This is Taillon’s 21st start in a row giving up three runs or less.  This impressive run has really been even more dominant over his last nine starts, which dates back to the beginning of August.  Since then, he has throw 60 total innings and has only given up 13 runs which was good for a 1.95 earned run average. This includes 34 innings in August that he pitched to a 2.38 earned run average and September, which has seen him post a 1.38 earned run average.

Some other numbers from Taillon’s dominant two months stretch include his strikes outs and limited walks, among others.  He has struck out 56 batters, which is just under one strikeout per innings.  Meanwhile, he has only walked 12 batters in those innings, which gives him a 4.67 strikeout to walk ratio. This is in large part to Taillon reducing his walks from an average of eight to nine per month to six in August.

Furthermore, Taillon has just done a good job of being effective against hitters. The batting average against over the last two months is .234.  He also has limited opposing hitters on-base percentage to under .300 at .291 and .272 over the last two months.  Lastly, Taillon has only given up 14 extra base hits, which have led to a slugging percentage against of .355.

Taillon has pitched better and better each month this season.  His inclusion of a slider back in May has really led to a turn around this year, but also in terms of his status as a pitcher.  He has gone from a middle of the rotation type of arm to a frontline starter. His numbers over the last two months suggest that he is moving toward being that lead pitcher for the staff next year.