Jameson Taillon finishes strong as Cubs shut down Reds

Jameson Taillon scattered four hits across seven scoreless innings as the host Chicago Cubs blanked the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 on Friday afternoon in the opener of a three-game set.

Taillon (12-8) walked two and fanned two in his final outing of the season. He finished the 2024 campaign strong, going 4-0 with a 1.63 ERA over his last six starts.

Tyson Miller took over for Taillon and worked around a hit batsman in the eighth before Porter Hodge logged a 1-2-3 ninth for his eighth save of the year.

Cincinnati starter Nick Martinez (10-7) traded zeros with Taillon until the fifth. Nico Hoerner opened the frame with a double, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Pete Crow-Armstrong and scored on Miguel Amaya's sacrifice fly to put the Cubs up 1-0.

That was all Chicago (82-78) could muster against Martinez, who gave up the one run on five hits in a career-high eight innings. Martinez didn't issue a walk and recorded three strikeouts.

Taillon got some help from his outfield to keep Cincinnati (76-84) off the board in the first inning.

Elly De La Cruz lofted a fly ball to the warning track in center that deflected off Crow-Armstrong's glove. De La Cruz flew past second to try and stretch a double into a triple, but Crow-Armstrong recovered to cut him down at third.

The Reds threatened again in the second, with TJ Friedl and Ty France each drawing a one-out walk. After Jake Fraley flied out, Santiago Espinal lined out to right to end the inning.

Spencer Steer led off the top of the seventh with a base hit, but Taillon shut Cincinnati down once again by getting three straight groundouts.

Both teams seemingly had places to be following Friday's game, as the contest lasted just 1 hour, 48 minutes.

Hoerner and Cincinnati second baseman Jonathan India were the only two players to tally more than one hit, finishing with two apiece.