Grant Taylor got to make his MLB debut with a lead, and he held it.
So did the two relievers after him, with varying levels of drama, but the bottom line was that the White Sox bullpen successfully guided an early lead across the finish line without late insurance, resulting in a professional 4-2 victory in the opener of their six-game Texas road trip.
Taylor came on to face the bottom of the Houston order in the seventh inning and a 4-1 lead after a quality start from Shane Smith, and he pitched a 1-2-3 inning that displayed both his arm talent, and the talent of major league hitters. The previous fastest pitch thrown by a White Sox this year was 99.6 mph from Cam Booser. Taylor's first pitch was clocked at 101.5 mph, and he cracked 100 mph on five other pitches as well.
"First pitch? That’s pretty good," Taylor said after hearing his own velocity. "Felt good. The juices were flowing, nerves a little out there."
Yet he didn't get a swinging strike on his 12 pitches. He instead recorded a fly out and two groundouts, starting with a Victor Caratini flyout on a clavicle-high 99.6 mph heater. The swings and misses won't come as easily as they did in Double-A, but they also couldn't get around on him, either.
Things nearly went awry for Steven Wilson in the eighth, as the Astros loaded the bases on two soft singles sandwiching a walk. Yainer Diaz's deep drive to center couldn't escape Luis Robert Jr.'s range, but it produced a sac fly that made it a 4-2 game, while moving another runner to third with one out. Wilson, however, managed to hold the line with a strikeout, and then an outstanding sliding catch by Robert, who made a decisive read in and needed every step to keep it a two-run margin.
"I was playing far back, avoiding any extra bases, and then the play was ahead of me," Robert said via interpreter. "It was easier because I was able to run in front and make the play."
Brandon Eisert was almost decapitated by the first batter he faced, but Vinny Capra was right behind him for a 4-3 to start a 1-2-3 inning. He became the first White Sox reliever to two saves like everybody predicted.
Robert's catch capped off a well-rounded evening, which he sorely needed. He drove in the first run of the game by following Kyle Teel's two-out walk with a line drive to right that Cam Smith made a mess of. Smith wasn't going to prevent a hit, but his aggressive angle left him in a poor position to control the carom, which allowed Teel to score all the way from first standing up.
The White Sox weren't done making Lance McCullers Jr. work. In the third, Mike Tauchman doubled to right field with one out, then moved to third after walks to Chase Meidroth and Andrew Benintendi. Miguel Vargas missed an RBI chance when he popped up a 3-2 breaking ball that looked like sac fly material, but Edgar Quero picked him up by shooting a single to left to give the Sox a 3-0 lead.
After the Astros tagged Smith for a run in the bottom of the third, Robert immediately answered it with a home run that landed two rows deep in the Crawford Boxes. (Statcast said it would only be a homer in four of 30 parks, but these Robert rules required no quorum.)
"Great to see him drive the ball a couple times," said Will Venable. "Obviously, really big plays in the outfield and just a great day for Luis, who continues to work hard and just really happy that he was able to get the results and helped us win."
That was the White Sox's fourth and final hit of the evening, but it was enough to send Smith on the path to his third victory of the year, as he managed to hold the Astros to one run despite a bevy of hard-hit balls. Smith yielded 14 balls in play exceeding 95 mph, partially because he was aggressive in the strike zone, and partially because he didn't have a great feel for his changeup, but the Astros were only able to effectively sequence them in the third, when Cam Smith sizzled a grounder through the right side, went to third on Jeremy Peña's 105-mph double, then scored on Isaac Paredes' 100-mph sac fly.
"I think it's a testament to just being aggressive," Smith said of his outing. "There are situations where you're behind in the count and it's pretty easy to flip something in and it be a ball and then you're in a 3-1 count and you're really pigeonholed. Staying aggressive when you're behind in counts and just trying to stay consistent is the biggest thing."
Smith also received some fine support behind him. After turning five double plays for the first time in regulation since 2012 in their previous game, the White Sox turned three more tonight, all during Smith's even-numbered innings. He faced the minimum in the second despite a leadoff walk because one hard-hit ball was a lineout to center, and another one turned into a 4-6-3 double play. Likewise, four consecutive hard-hit balls didn't produce a run in the fourth, as a pair of one-out singles were nullified by a 4-3 double play started by Josh Rojas. Smith's final pitch then generated a 5-4-3 twin killing to close out a scoreless sixth.
Bullet points:
*The White Sox tied a season high with eight walks.
*Tim Elko had two of those walks in the ninth spot, and also recorded his first career stolen base -- on Bennett Sousa's otherwise successful pickoff attempt, no less.
*The White Sox ended the top of the ninth when a pinch-running Michael A. Taylor was cut down at third as part of a double-steal attempt with Meidroth at the plate, and Meidroth was rung up on a checked-swing strikeout for the double play. Given that the heart of the order was coming to the plate, it was a weird time to insist the runners be in motion.
