PITTSBURGH — There was understandably some concern Sunday when right-hander Jameson Taillon was a last-minute scratch from his start in Chicago — the Pittsburgh Pirates’ final game before the All-Star break.
Thoughts turned to Taillon’s recent battle with testicular cancer and an impressive layoff of just five weeks after surgery. Flu-like symptoms was the official explanation.
Taillon (5-2, 2.73 ERA), who is scheduled to start Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park, confirmed via Twitter and again Friday that the problem was food poisoning.
He told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he ordered a dinner delivery to his Chicago hotel room last Saturday night and then spent the evening “shuttling between my bed and the toilet.