NEW YORK — For seven innings, the Chicago Cubs offense was nonexistent. New York Mets starter Luis Severino was dominating, striking out five batters while walking just one and hitting another. Outside of that, the bats were quiet. The team wasn’t just getting no-hit; it was barely making the Mets defense work.
Still, the team remained within shouting distance because of a brilliant performance by starter Jameson Taillon, who nearly equaled Severino for much of the evening. Taillon gave up a leadoff homer to Brandon Nimmo, then mostly shut down the Mets offense, ending his night with 7 1/3 innings worked with just the one run allowed on four hits while walking one and striking out another.
Taillon’s night was nearly overlooked because of the quiet Cubs bats. Severino looked in control for most of the game, and as he got through six without allowing a hit, the energy in the ballpark was palpable.
“You can feel it,” Taillon said. “You can feel the crowd catching on and hanging on to every pitch. Sevi’s pitched in a lot of big moments. I thought there was maybe a chance. He was moving quick, throwing strikes, and his pitch count was good.”
But a leadoff walk in the eighth by Michael Busch was followed by a broken-bat single from Dansby Swanson, ending the no-hit bid. “The bat died a hero,” Swanson joked, as the base knock eventually led to the Cubs’ knotting things up at 1 as a pair of fielder’s choices followed, the second one driving in Busch from third.
“Just a crazy-good eighth inning there,” Taillon said. “When a guy’s on his game, that’s how you’re going to have to tie it up: work a walk, run the bases hard, beat a double-play ball, stuff like that. It’s not pretty, but it works.”
The momentum seemingly shifted in that moment to the Cubs’ side. With dominant closer Edwin Díaz coming in for the ninth, a struggling offense somehow seemed unfazed. Mike Tauchman ripped a double into the left-center-field gap, and an out later, Christopher Morel worked a 3-1 count. Anyone who has watched Morel knew a big swing was coming, and the young third baseman didn’t disappoint. Morel unleashed a vicious hack and sent a 97 mph heater 402 feet to left at 108.9 mph, giving the Cubs a 3-1 lead they’d hold on to for the victory.
This one got outta here in a New York Minute ☄️ pic.twitter.com/wq0lFBHGVt
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 30, 2024
“That’s about getting ahead in the count,” manager Craig Counsell said. “That’s why it’s so valuable to do that as a hitter, so you can be aggressive. And he put a great swing on a ball and got a pitch to hit.”
In that moment — or any, really — Morel is always primed to pounce on the heater.
“I’m always ready for the fastball,” Morel said through an interpreter. “Regardless of what the count is, regardless of what the situation is, I’m always ready for the fastball.”
Morel’s teammates knew that, after a torrid start to the season, he hadn’t been getting the results he wanted at the plate. His last home run came on April 9 in San Diego, and since then he’d been in a 16-game slump in which he’d posted a weak 14 wRC+ with just two extra-base hits. Morel credited his coaches and teammates for being there for him while he worked through the issues. They also know he manages to step up when the pressure rises.
“I thought it was sweet,” Taillon said. “Maybe the best closer in baseball. A big spot — New York City, bright lights, facing that dude. I don’t know when his last homer was; he’s been putting together tough ABs, but he hasn’t been putting them out like he was earlier in the year. Just really happy for him, and obviously huge for the team.”
“I have to remind myself that he’s (24),” Swanson said. “Just how slow he takes those moments, he embraces those moments, and to be able to do that off a guy like Díaz is very impressive.”
Morel’s homer will likely garner the most attention, and he deserves every bit of it. But without Taillon going toe-to-toe with Severino for much of the evening, none of it would have mattered.
“It was seven (no-hit) innings and it was 1-0,” Counsell said. “That’s the big thing. That’s a credit to Jamo. You’re in it. No matter what’s going on — you’re getting no-hit, it doesn’t look good — but you’re one run away from it being a different game. We got a great pitching performance tonight that fortunately got us through the other team’s great pitching performance.”
Taillon has taken so much heat from outsiders after a dreadful start to last season. The big righty signed a four-year, $68 million deal and promptly posted a 6.93 ERA in his first 14 starts with the Cubs. But a strong second half led to some optimism that 2024 could work out differently. After being slowed by a back strain to start the season, Taillon has returned and has been impressive, posting a 1.50 ERA over his first three starts (18 innings).
Even when things weren’t going right, Taillon was able to unite a clubhouse that was struggling on the field in the middle of last summer. His teammates have noticed the impact he has provided in multiple ways.
“Who he is as a human and what he means to us as a leader in this clubhouse, for him to go out there and continue to perform and give us a chance to do what we needed to do was huge for us tonight,” Swanson said. “It shows what he’s capable of and what he means to this group.”
Taillon hammered the zone Monday, throwing 57 of his 78 pitches for strikes. He didn’t miss many bats, getting just three whiffs in total, but for the most part, he missed barrels and allowed his defense to do the work behind him.
“I throw a lot of strikes; I throw strike one a lot,” Taillon said. “Some teams are like, ‘Prove it,’ and some teams are like, ‘Let’s jump on the first good thing we see.’ They were aggressive, but it’s not like they were out there chasing everything. I thought they took some really good pitches, too. Not a lot of swing-and-miss. Some balls found gloves, and I also thought we just executed at a good rate. When teams are aggressive, putting an emphasis on execution is big.”
Without Cody Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki, the offense won’t always look pretty. The Cubs were shut out Saturday, and in Sunday’s loss in Boston, they struggled mightily against Tanner Houck and needed a big swing from Tauchman to make it interesting. It was more of the same for much of Monday night, but because of Taillon, they were able to steal a win.
“There’s not going to be any formula,” Counsell said. “You go out every night and compete. We got an incredible pitching performance tonight, and in the end, we got a big hit. That was enough because we pitched so well.”
The Cubs are down an ace (Justin Steele), a veteran starter (Kyle Hendricks), a rookie starter who had just delivered one of his best starts (Jordan Wicks), one of their best relievers (Julian Merryweather) and arguably their two most impactful bats. Somehow they’re still 18-11 and have moved into first place in the NL Central.
With tonight’s win, the #Cubs have broken the franchise record for most wins through April with 18 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Qstxmu2rUV
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 30, 2024
There’s a lot of baseball left to be played. A lot can go wrong, and it could get ugly when a team is as banged up as this one is. But for now, the Cubs are staying afloat and finding ways to avoid an extended slump — their longest losing streak remains just two games, which they’ve done just twice. If they can continue to scratch and claw their way to wins and get enough pitching as they try to get healthy, perhaps they can come out on the other end a stronger team.
“It’s a testament to the ability to win games regardless of how,” Swanson said. “It could be really good pitching like it was tonight, or there are some that will be 11-10. Just to find the ability to win no matter the cost or however the game is going is the sign of a really good team. There’s a lot of confidence to be built off it.”
(Photo of Christopher Morel: Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)
