Cubs starting pitcher Jameson Taillon throws against the Pittsburgh Pirates during Monday’s 5-3 loss in Chicago.
AP

On Jimmy Buffet Night at Wrigley Field, the Cubs lost their shaker of salt quite abruptly.

After Jameson Taillon cruised through seven scoreless innings, reliever Jorge Lopez surrendered a pair of home runs in the eighth. Just when it looked like the Cubs would be pouring margaritas to celebrate a seventh straight victory, they suffered a 5-3 loss Monday.

The inning started with a couple of softly-hit singles, then Bryan Reynolds drove a 3-run homer to tie it and Andrew McCutchen smashed a go-ahead home into the left-field bleachers. The Pirates tacked on an insurance run in the ninth against Cubs newcomer Shawn Armstrong.

“Unfortunately, I got those two hits,” Lopez said. “I feel great. I just couldn’t execute a couple pitches. I’ve been doing good for the last two months. You don’t expect that the way we’ve been playing. Just come in tomorrow and do it better.”

The final result made it easy to second-guess a few decisions. Taillon exited the game after 89 pitches instead of returning for the eighth. Also, maybe the Cubs shouldn’t have released Hector Neris or traded Mark Leiter Jr., but there’s no going back now.

Heading into this game, Lopez had posted an 0.76 ERA in 23 ⅔ innings since joining the Cubs, with one home run allowed. This was his first blown save of the year, so the numbers suggested this was the right move. And the gopher balls weren’t egregious. Reynolds hit one at the top of the zone and McCutchen on the inside corner.

“Just unfortunate, but I understand it,” Taillon said. “I wasn’t in there pounding the table trying to stay in or anything. When you hear Jorge Lopez is coming in behind you — yeah, that’s one of our dudes, one of our leverage guys. Ever since we got him over here, he’s been lights-out.”

Manager Craig Counsell delivered some bad news after the game. Justin Steele will be scratched from Tuesday’s scheduled start due to elbow soreness, with Kyle Hendricks taking his place against rookie Paul Skenes.

Facing Pittsburgh for the second time in less than a week, Taillon allowed just 3 hits and one walk. He was in trouble once, when Isaac Paredes fielded a routine ground ball and launched the throw into the visiting dugout. The error put runners on second and third with two out, but Taillon retired the next batter. He got 12 ground-ball outs, which is out of character.

“It was cool to see them (Cubs fielders) do their thing and fly around,” Taillon said. “I thought when I was ahead in the count last start, things went really well for me. When I was behind, they did some of their damage. So I wanted to get strike one.”

Had the Cubs (71-67) hung on to win, the key play would have been an impressive sprint to second base by Pete Crow-Armstrong. The Cubs had runners on first and second with one out when Miguel Amaya hit what looked like a sure double-play grounder to short.

But Crow-Armstrong beat the throw to second, keeping the inning alive, and Ian Happ followed with a 2-run triple into the right-field corner. That put the Cubs up 3-0 in the fifth, but wasn’t enough.