{"id":667541,"date":"2026-04-07T03:18:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T03:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/667541\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T03:18:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T03:18:19","slug":"grant-taylors-opening-number-power-reliever-solid-in-third-outing-ahead-of-white-sox-starters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/667541\/","title":{"rendered":"Grant Taylor\u2019s opening number: Power reliever solid in third outing ahead of White Sox starters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Second-year fireballer Grant Taylor wanted to start for the White Sox<\/a> this season, but general manager Chris Getz & Co. liked his 99-mph heater too much coming out of the bullpen.<\/p>\n

Early this season, Taylor leads the Sox with three starts, just not the way he would\u2019ve liked.<\/p>\n

Manager Will Venable put him on the mound as the opener for Sox starters in three of their last four games, a testament to the organization\u2019s faith in Taylor\u2019s stuff as much as their starters\u2019 early-season jitters. A brutal first run through the rotation ballooned the Sox\u2019 team ERA to the highest in baseball in the first week of the year.<\/p>\n

Taylor was near flawless as the opener for the home opener against the Blue Jays, setting down the top of the defending American League champions in order \u2014 and setting the tone for the rebuilding Sox to earn a little swagger with their home series sweep<\/a>. It took just nine pitches for Taylor to mow down the first three Jays Friday and another nine pitches Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been as good as I\u2019ve seen Grant,\u201d Venable said before Taylor\u2019s opening appearance Monday, which made him just the fifth MLB pitcher since 1924 to start three times in four days, and the first since legendary Sox hurler Wilbur Wood did in 1973.<\/p>\n

Taylor served up a leadoff double to open the Sox\u2019 three-game set with Baltimore, but he secured a strikeout and two flyouts to set the stage for bulk pitcher Erick Fedde, who settled in for six innings of two-run ball in the Sox\u2019 2-1 loss as a ninth-inning rally fell short. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat first one against the Blue Jays was maybe as good as I\u2019ve seen any pitcher,\u201d Venable said of Taylor. \u201cHe finds a little more juice in there, especially if he knows what the parameters of the start are going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Communication is key as the Sox try to balance the routines and psyches of a young pitching staff with the need to finally start winning more games. Opening returns have been promising from Taylor, who also opened two games his rookie year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost like a slow burn, because you kind of feel it the entire time you\u2019re getting ready, versus if you\u2019re throwing the ninth, it\u2019s flip of a switch and it\u2019s there,\u201d Taylor said. <\/p>\n

Starter Sean Burke, touched up for seven hits and four runs in his first start of the year at Milwaukee, settled in nicely after Taylor in the home opener, throwing six innings of one-run ball in the bulk role.<\/p>\n

Burke posted a 5.73 ERA in the first innings of his games last season, but it sank below 3.00 in the second and third innings. That\u2019s why the Sox are going back to the opening well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done it in the past, just to get them out of the first inning and let them settle in and go deeper into games for us,\u201d Getz said.<\/p>\n

Rotation mate Anthony Kay gave up two runs on three hits and four walks in 4 \u2154 innings against the Brewers in his first start, and he didn\u2019t fare much better after a Taylor table-setting against the Jays: two runs on three hits and two walks 4 \u2153 innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, you want to start the game. It just adds a little element to it,\u201d Kay said, acknowledging the strategy \u201cpunches the other team in the mouth a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Fedde didn\u2019t sound enthusiastic about the arrangement, either. \u201cI\u2019m trying to treat it as just an afterthought, like, nothing to be concerned about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venable said there was no secret plan to open with Taylor three times in four days; the match-ups simply made sense, and they\u2019ll consider the strategy on a series-by-series basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiving them a voice in this too, and autonomy to speak up for what they believe in and what\u2019s important to them \u2014 it doesn\u2019t feel like we\u2019re really selling anybody on anything,\u201d Venable said. \u201cWe\u2019re just all putting our heads together to do the best thing to try to win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Second-year fireballer Grant Taylor wanted to start for the White Sox this season, but general manager Chris Getz…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2379],"tags":[5,138,49,2561,4,396,2562],"class_list":{"0":"post-667541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-white-sox","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-white-sox","11":"tag-chicagowhitesox","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-white-sox","14":"tag-whitesox"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116361265513119491","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}