Grant Taylor took the White Sox through the last hard turn of Game 1, working a career-high 54 pitches out of the bullpen as Chicago beat Houston, 6-3, at Daikin Park and moved within one victory of its first postseason series win since 2005.
Game 1 line
| Team | Score | Key pitching note |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago White Sox | 6 | Five pitchers combined on a bullpen day |
| Houston Astros | 3 | Threatened in the eighth but left the tying run at the plate |
| Grant Taylor | 2 1/3 IP | 54 pitches, 5 strikeouts |
The decisive moment came in the bottom of the eighth. Houston had men on first and second, two down, and Yainer Diaz represented the tying run against Taylor. The Chicago right-hander had shown Diaz five fastballs, then went to a curveball on a full count. Diaz watched it land for strike three.
Taylor admitted afterward that he was not immediately certain which pitch had finished the at-bat. Asked whether it was a curve, he answered, “I’m going to be honest. I don’t even know what I threw.” He later explained that, with the count at 3-2, he had tried to give Diaz several looks and froze him with the breaking ball.
Chicago emptied the bullpen
Rookie left-hander Hagen Smith opened the game with three scoreless innings. Jordan Hicks, Sean Newcomb and rookie David Sandlin followed before Taylor entered to handle the late leverage.
White Sox catcher Kyle Teel said the staff made an unusual pitching arrangement feel simple behind the plate. They attacked the strike zone and consistently hit their targets, he said, joking that he could have caught them with a blindfold because the ball kept arriving at his glove.
Smith called the assignment a welcome chance to compete and help give Chicago its best opportunity to win. The rookies did their part, and Taylor supplied the long final push.
Manager Will Venable said the club stretched Taylor farther than it had previously, trusting him to enter in the seventh, clean up the inning and keep the White Sox in control. Venable described the effort as “heroics.” Teel put it more simply: Taylor was “on the gas the whole time.”
Ready for another call
After recording the second out of the eighth, Taylor was checked by Venable and the coaching staff to see whether he had more left. He did. The 54-pitch workload came in a spot where Chicago was trying to shut the door, and Taylor said he wanted to give the club all he had.
He said he felt good after the game and hoped he could be available as soon as Wednesday, when the White Sox can close out the American League Wild Card Series in Game 2 at 5 p.m. ET. Taylor acknowledged that he had reached deeper than at any point this season, saying he leaned on prayer and gratitude between pitches for the strength to complete the job.
Chicago has not won a playoff series since its 2005 championship run. Taylor’s view of the road ahead was straightforward: keep playing the way the club has played all season, win this series, then the next one, and see whether that carries the White Sox to a World Series chance.
