The Chicago Cubs couldn’t have scripted a worse Sunday night. A 2-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants in ten grinding innings was painful enough on its own. But what happened in the second inning made the whole thing a lot harder to stomach.

Their starting pitcher walked off the mound and didn’t come back. And now the injured list is calling.

What Happened Out There

Jameson Taillon had barely gotten going when things fell apart. One batter into the second inning — a walk to Matt Chapman with Chicago already trailing 1-0 — and suddenly the Cubs training staff and manager Craig Counsell were making that long, slow walk to the mound that nobody ever wants to see.

After a brief conversation Taillon headed to the dugout and was replaced by Javier Assad, recalled from Triple-A Iowa just the day before. From a pitching perspective the Cubs had gone from their scheduled starter to an emergency replacement before the game had even properly gotten started.

The Moment It All Went Wrong

Taillon was remarkably specific about exactly when he felt it. An inside changeup to Chapman on a 2-2 count — that’s when the discomfort first crept in. Then came the agonising in-between pitches decision that every athlete dreads.

“I was kind of trying to weigh whether I should throw another pitch or not, then threw the 3-2 pitch and kind of felt it a little more,” he said. “Nothing I’ve ever felt. Unfortunately, just kind of one pitch did it.”

One pitch. That’s all it takes sometimes. And just like that a strained left hamstring ended his night before it really began.

The Injury Verdict

Taillon confirmed after the game that an IL stint is coming — MRI on Monday, and the hope is that it’s nothing more serious than a muscle strain. “I don’t think it’s surgical or anything like that,” he said, which is at least something to hold onto amid an otherwise miserable evening.

But losing a starter for any significant stretch right now is the last thing Chicago needed.

The Numbers Don’t Make Pretty Reading Either

Here’s the uncomfortable context surrounding all of this. Taillon walked off the mound with an ERA of 5.19, a 2-5 record, and four straight losses over his last five starts. This wasn’t a red hot pitcher cruising through the season who got unlucky with an injury. This was a struggling pitcher who needed to find form — and now won’t get the chance to do so for a while.

The silver lining — if you can call it that — was Assad’s response. Coming in cold off a Triple-A recall he delivered 6⅓ scoreless innings, allowed just one hit and retired the final 12 Giants batters he faced. On another night that’s the kind of performance that wins games.

The Bigger Picture For Chicago

San Francisco won it in the tenth when Chapman — the same man Taillon had walked to trigger the whole chaotic chain of events — singled in the automatic runner to seal it. Poetic in the most brutal way possible.

The Giants have now won four of their last five. The Cubs meanwhile have lost 20 of their last 27 games. That’s not a rough patch. That’s a crisis — and a rotation now missing one of its starters makes the road ahead look even steeper.

Monday’s MRI will tell the full story on Taillon. But the Cubs’ problems go well beyond one hamstring injury right now. ⚾🔥