Adrian Houser, Grant Taylor Shut Out Giants As White Sox Win 1-0

CHICAGO –– Grant Taylor called them heaters. Josh Rojas called it fuel.

No matter what name one attributes to Taylor's 100-plus mph fastball, opposing hitters have had a hard time touching it since the 23-year-old right-hander made his major league debut on June 10. A few weeks later, Taylor had perhaps the most impressive outing of his young career, locking down a six-out save to defeat the San Francisco Giants 1-0 on Saturday at Rate Field.

"That was nasty. He throws fuel," Rojas said. "That's fun to watch. He's throwing 100 mph. He's got a nasty cutter, good curveball. That's pretty fun to watch."

Taylor retired all six batters he faced, including the heart of the Giants' order in the ninth inning. Though he had made just seven appearances prior to Saturday's game, he's quickly established himself as a go-to guy in high-leverage situations.

"The stuff, the command, everything makes you want to have him out there," White Sox manager Will Venable said. "To have him be able to have the capacity to go multiple innings there is invaluable."

"He’s got a great feel. Obviously the experience as a pitcher, navigating a lineup multiple times. He’s got multiple pitches he can throw for strikes. He’s got all good stuff. He’s one of those guys, everything is plus but if he doesn’t have a feel for something he’s going to be able to use different pitches to navigate tough hitters."

Taylor threw seven pitches that clocked in over 100 mph, though 10 others were at least 99 mph. The fastball has highlighted the early stages of his career, but on Saturday he struck out All-Star slugger Rafael Devers with a curveball, one of three outs induced by an off-speed pitch.

"Getting the curveball strikeout to Devers was huge," Taylor said postgame. "Felt like all my strikeouts the past couple outings have been heaters, so it was nice to be able to see one on the off-speed."

Adrian Houser, a Triple-A free agent acquisition, continued to be a stellar, under-the-radar find for the White Sox. He allowed just two base runners in the first five innings – a walk and a hit – and neither got past first base.

That lowered his ERA to 1.90 through his first seven starts with the White Sox, one of the best stretches of his career.

"Probably, yeah," Houser said. "As far as mechanically and everything that I've put into the work I did in the offseason, I'd say I'm definitely in a better spot, feeling a lot better. I put a pretty good run in there in '21. So it's up there. I'm just trying to work on the stuff I'm trying to do, make sure my mechanics are in the right spot, where I need them to be to be able to execute pitches. After that, the rest is out of my control."

Houser's first real bit of trouble came in the sixth, when the Giants put runners on second and third with no outs after two singles by Brett Wisely and Christian Koss, followed by a Houser balk. But as Houser got Devers to whiff at a changeup for strike three, White Sox catcher Edgar Quero delivered a snap throw to third base, nabbing Wisely for the second out. Two pitches later, Houser had escaped the jam with fly out by Heliot Ramos.

Quero said he talked pregame with Rojas about a potential back-pick at third base, and Rojas noticed during the game that the Giants were going to be aggressive and try to score on contact. That communication made for a key play in the game.

"That was huge on Q right there, being able to be heads up in the moment right there," Houser said. "Him and Ro were able to get that communication going and see that was there. It was a huge double play right there, changed a lot of the momentum, I think."

The White Sox faced a major challenge on Saturday against Giants left-hander Robbie Ray, who entered the game with a 2.83 ERA, 104 strikeouts in 92.1 innings and an NL-most eight wins. He worked his way through the White Sox lineup with relative ease initially, allowing just three hits through the first five innings.

The White Sox finally broke through against Ray in the sixth, as Andrew Benintendi went down to a knee to launch his 10th home run of the season. The two-out solo shot came on a 2-0 fastball on the low and inside corner, which Benintendi drove 388 feet with an exit velocity of 103.4 mph.

"Beni, actually there before that inning, I just asked him, ‘Hey first and second, would you be comfortable bunting?” He said yes," Venable said. "I said I would love a homer too. He stepped up and showed me that maybe he’s not a candidate to bunt in that situation. Just a really nice job by him getting on the heater. It’s the difference in the game."

After knocking Ray out of the game, the White Sox had a prime opportunity to add to their lead after a double from Michael A. Taylor. In the next at-bat, Josh Rojas singled to right field, which appeared to be enough to score a run. Taylor even beat the throw home, but he slid wide and missed home plate with his hand. A few seconds after the slide, Taylor knelt behind home plate and was tagged out by Giants catcher Andrew Knizner.

"It was a clean play," Venable said. "Just one of those tough ones where as a runner you don’t really have much of a choice there with a catcher who is moving up the line to receive the throw."

While that out seemed potentially costly at the time, the White Sox hung on, thanks to a combined shutout by Houser and Taylor. With this win, the White Sox improved to 27-56 ahead of Sunday's series finale at 1:10 p.m CT at Rate Field.

Justin Verlander is set to take the mound for the Giants, and White Sox manager Will Venable confirmed postgame that Jonathan Cannon will make his first start after about three weeks on the injured list with a lower back strain.