Taillon pitches Pirates over Rockies in comeback game
PITTSBURGH: Jameson Taillon pitched five scoreless innings on his return from treatments for testicular cancer to help the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Colorado Rockies 7-2 in Major League Baseball on Monday night.
Taillon (3-1) allowed five hits, walked two and struck out five. The 25-year-old had surgery May 8, four days after losing to the Reds at Cincinnati, then made three rehab starts in the minor leagues.
Josh Harrison hit a two-run home run, his eighth, in the first inning off Kyle Freeland (7-4). Harrison, David Freese and Jose Osuna each had two hits for the Pirates.
Freeland, a rookie, lost for the first time in seven road starts by giving up five runs (four earned) and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings.
In New York, Jacob deGrom pitched a five-hitter and Asdrubal Cabrera atoned for an embarrassing error by lining two home runs and turning four double plays as the Mets beat the Cubs 6-1.
DeGrom (5-3) threw the Mets’ first complete game of the season as New York won their fourth in a row.
Still under .500 but getting healthier, the Mets started a key two-week stretch where they face 14 straight games against teams that reached the NL playoffs last year.
The Cubs dropped to 31-32 with their ninth straight road loss — the World Series champions haven’t won away from Wrigley Field in a month during their worst road skid since 2012.
John Lackey (4-7) fell to 0-4 in five starts. In Washington, Tyler Flowers hit a goahead three-run home run off Matt Albers in the ninth inning as Atlanta came from three runs down to beat Washington 11-10 and snap a three-game skid.
Flowers had been hitless in his first four at-bats before he took Albers’ fastball to the opposite field and into the Nationals bullpen.
Matt Adams hit a pair of homers, including one off starter Stephen Strasburg. The Nationals’ ace gave up six runs and three homers. Adams’ second homer, a solo shot, was the first of five runs scored against a Nationals bullpen that blew its 11th save and second during a four-game losing streak.
Albers (2-1) allowed the final three runs in the ninth after entering to work out of an eighth-inning jam.
Atlanta’s bullpen allowed two runs over 5 and 2/3 innings.