The White Sox can point to several reasons they earned a 3-0 win over the host Cleveland Guardians in Game 1 of the ALDS. Timely hitting from Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery contributed heavily to the outcome. After all, you can’t shut an opponent out and win without scoring yourself.
But the pitching was the story of this game, and nobody did more to ensure a victory than Grant Taylor. Yes, the same Grant Taylor who bypassed Triple-A when he was called up a season ago. He has vindicated the Sox’s decision to have him skip the level just below MLB and then some.
Grant Taylor didn’t exactly scare the Guardians during the regular season. All three of the losses he suffered came against them, and they made him look awful. Although he recorded two saves, he also had a 9.45 ERA. It was the only team he threw two wild pitches against, and his 2.25 WHIP was the worst against any AL opponent.
But as the Sox have proven over the past week, everything gets thrown out once the playoffs start. If Taylor had his season stats against the Guardians in the back of his mind, he wasn’t bothered in the least.
In picking up the save, Taylor pitched a career-high four innings while throwing 42 pitches, 12 fewer than he threw in 2.1 innings in Game 1 of the Wild Card series against the Houston Astros. He gave up only two hits, walked nobody, and four of the six strikeouts he had accounted for the Guardians’ final four outs.
Even though the Sox didn’t have an official closer during the regular season, Taylor was as close to a reliable one as they had. His 10 saves were second on the team, and his 2.8 bWAR was second on the pitching staff only to Sean Burke. And don’t forget about that 2.25 ERA.
If this is how Will Venable insists on using Taylor during the playoffs, he hopefully recognizes that he will only be available every other day. Even with the off day Sunday, it would be unreasonable to expect him to take the mound Monday. But maybe Venable recognizes that winning both games in Cleveland will be tough, so he played for the win in the series opener.
In any case, though, Taylor is quickly becoming a pitcher Sox fans will remember for all the right reasons for years. Hopefully, he has a few more of these performances in him.
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