Taillon (14-10) struck out seven but took the loss to the Reds on Saturday despite giving up three runs in six innings. He worked around seven hits and did not walk a batter.
The right-hander peppered the zone with 64 strikes in 89 pitches but allowed a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the third before a homer by Eugenio Suarez and an RBI single from opposing pitcher Michael Lorenzen in the fourth. All in all, Taillon was effective, but his offense failed to plate a run, which left him empty-handed in a quality start packed with strikeouts and sans a walk. He'll wrap up the 2018 season with a sparkling 3.20 ERA, 2.2 BB/9, and a solid 8.4 K/9 in 191 innings. Taillon already enters 2019 in top-25 territory among mixed-league starting pitchers, and given his impressive 10.5 percent swinging-strike rate from this year, he might reach another level in punchouts with more experience and a few tweaks to his approach.