HOUSTON — As reliever Grant Taylor reached back for each of the 54 pitches he used Tuesday to nail down the final seven outs of the White Sox’ first road playoff victory in six years, he called upon a higher power to get him through it — to add an extra tick to his triple-digit velocity, to get his sometimes-wayward fastball in the zone.
“Just kind of praying to God,” Taylor said. “I’m gonna give you everything I’ve got if you give me everything you’ve got.”
Taylor was the best option the Sox could call upon as they sought to lock down a 6-3 win in Houston that now has them one step away from their first postseason series victory since 2005 in this same park. Even with his team up four runs in the seventh after putting consistent pressure on the leaky Astros, who are also pitching a bullpen game, manager Will Venable called for Taylor with two outs and a runner on second.
In a best-of-three series, there’s no room for half-measures.
“Heroic,” Venable said of Taylor’s effort. “There was a case to be made [for Taylor to] start that seventh inning. But just where we were at with a little bit of space, [I] wanted to see if we could kick the can down the road and just get as many out as we could with [David] Sandlin. And then, once they had a runner at second base, we wanted to just shut it down.”
Grant Taylor’s 54 pitches were his most since April of 2025 in AA. That outing was a start, obviously pic.twitter.com/4N6VhdpdPE
— James Fegan (@JRFegan) September 30, 2026
Taylor’s fastball command as he cut through the vaunted top of the Astros’ order in the eighth made it “more of a chase” pitch, catcher Kyle Teel said.
Taylor yielded a run when Jeremy Pena and Yordan Alvarez strung together one-out singles. After Taylor struck out Isaac Paredes, Astros great Jose Altuve poked a full-count slider down the third-base line and reached first just as Miguel Vargas’ errant throw dragged Munetaka Murakami off the bag.
The play drew Astros catcher Yainer Diaz to the plate as the tying run and brought an often-moody Daikin Park crowd to a full boil for the first and last time. Turns out that a burly right-hander with triple-digit heat having a better feel for his breaking stuff played in the Sox’ favor. Taylor’s full-count curveball on the outside corner froze Diaz for strike three and froze any Astros comeback hopes after Taylor pitched the ninth as well.
“It’s a trait of a really, really good pitcher,” Teel said of Taylor fending off Astros hitters without his best fastball command.
Taylor was still vibrating with adrenaline in the locker room after the game.
“I’m being honest, I don’t know what I threw,” he said of the curve to Diaz. “A couple guys coming up that are pretty good hitters, tying run on deck — that’s probably going to take the cake for best curveball [of my career], just because of the situation.”
Taylor threw his most pitches in a game since April 2025, when he was working as a starter at Double-A Birmingham. He dealt with soreness back then while recovering from starts. The same nutty athleticism that allows him to release the ball more than seven feet out from the pitching rubber made Sox officials wonder how much he could hold up long-term. They chose to quickly move him to the major-league bullpen and let him fire his best bullets when it mattered most.
Finishing with five strikeouts to put the Sox within a game of a division series with the rival Guardians, the obvious question is for Taylor is this: Can he do it again?
And how soon?
“Ideally, tomorrow,” he said. “I’m going to give this team everything I’ve got. They’ve given me everything they’ve got, so I’m gonna do everything I can to be there.”