With one out in the second inning, Milwaukee’s Hernan Perez sent a shot right back to Taillon that hit the 24-year-old in the back of the head and rolled out into left field. “We’d like to get him a little more efficient with his pitches, but I thought he rebounded from that second inning, which was important”.
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The ball hit him at 105 miles per hour, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette beat writer, and it ricocheted all the way into left field for a base hit.
Junior Guerra overcame a shaky start to allow two runs over six innings, striking out six and walking three.
“Junior was excellent like he’s been all year”, Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell said. Taillon lay in front of the pitcher’s mound for several minutes while being tended to by trainers, then remarkably opted to stay in the game.
Taillon struck out one batter and allowed two hits before the incident and gave up four more hits and one run with two more strikeouts and no walks before being removed after six innings and 65 pitches. “He stayed in there and nearly pitched even better after getting hit in the head, which is pretty incredible”.
It was a frightening moment, but Taillon didn’t see it as a big deal.
Pitchers are often helpless against line drives up the middle. “It seemed everybody we started with a strike to, we followed up with a ball or two balls or three balls”.
Pittsburgh got those runs back plus another to take the lead in its first four at-bats against Anderson in the bottom of the second.
With the Pirates now on a two-game winning streak, they’ll look for a series win Wednesday when Jeff Locke (8-5, 5.26 ERA) gets the start against Milwaukee’s Chase Anderson (4-10, 5.44 ERA).
Each team will be looking for a series win Thursday following the Pirates’ 3-2 win on Tuesday and the Brewers’ 9-5 decision on Wednesday, when Jonathan Lucroy drove in three runs and Scooter Gennett and Chris Carter had two RBIs each.
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Locke is 8-6 with an unsightly 5.54 ERA in 19 games, including 18 starts, this season.
