Jameson Taillon gave up just one run in six innings, and the Chicago Cubs defeated the New York Yankees 2-1 on Sunday to avoid a series sweep.
Taillon (10-8) struck out six against his old team. He allowed Anthony Volpe’s RBI sacrifice fly in the second inning and gave up six hits.
“I’ve been dealing with a little bit of this and that lately, and that just means when you’re out there, you’ve just got to execute,” Taillon said. “Maybe you don’t have the same stuff you would if you were feeling 110% in April. Here we are in September, deeper in the year.
That’s when the prep work and scouting and knowing their tendencies (pay off), and then it’s just going out there and executing a game.”
New York stayed a half-game ahead of second-place Baltimore in the AL East.
Chicago had won 10 of 13 games in late August but had lost four of five to the Pirates and Yankees during its homestand before Sunday.
Isaac Paredes singled with the bases loaded in the first inning against Gerrit Cole (6-4), driving in both runs. The runs were unearned due to an error by Gleyber Torres, who leads big league second basemen with 17 errors this season.
Cole struck out seven in six innings on his 34th birthday.
The Cubs had only three hits, all off Cole — one each from Ian Happ, Dansby Swanson, and Paredes. Happ also made two fantastic catches in left field to prevent the Yankees from getting extra-base hits.
“He made a big impact on the game today for sure,” manager Craig Counsell said about Happ. “Those were two big plays, two really good defensive plays that can change the game. In a game where both sides were pitching really well, you have to make plays, and we made some big plays.”
