Call to the bullpen unforgettable for Taylor

The phone call accelerated Blake Taylor’s heartbeat. He studied the Seattle Mariners lineup and saw a long list of lefthanded hitters. He is the only southpaw in Houston’s bullpen. Taylor’s major league debut seemed inevitable on opening weekend. Friday, his dream became reality.

Taylor acknowledged apprehension when the call came for his warmup. He threw throughout the seventh inning of Friday’s 8-2 win. He entered in the eighth, when three lefthanded hitters were scheduled for Seattle.

Taylor trotted to the mound. He took a moment to survey the cavernous, crowd-less surroundings. For most established major leaguers, playing in empty ballparks will be their biggest adjustment during this 2020 season. Taylor needed no such adaptation. He thought back to minor league days.

“It’s not a knock on Binghamton, but Binghamton didn’t attract many fans last year,” said Taylor, who played for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. “I just kept telling myself,

‘It’s just like Binghamton, it’s just like Binghamton, it’s just like Binghamton.’

“My body took over, muscle memory happened and the nerves blew away after I threw my first strike.”

Taylor retired the side on nine pitches, including righthanded pinch-hitter Tim Lopes. Jose Altuve saved the baseball from the final out and presented it to Taylor in the postgame clubhouse.

The debut completed Taylor’s whirlwind sevenmonth journey. The Astros acquired him in December from the New York Mets in the Jake Marisnick deal — Taylor’s second trade in his professional career.

The Pirates, who drafted during the second round of the 2013 draft, traded him to the Mets in 2014.

With minor league free agency looming, Taylor was added to the Astros 40-man roster despite just three appearances above Class AA. In February, he had hope of making Houston’s opening day bullpen. The pandemic halted most of his progress.

Yet, on Thursday afternoon, manager Dusty

Baker summoned Taylor into his office. Taylor did not sleep the night before, knowing that opening day rosters were due the next morning. He acknowledged nerves to Baker.

Baker told him “don’t worry.” Taylor had made the team.

“I’m not gonna lie, I cried,” Taylor said. “I felt like all that hard work and effort. There’s a lot of peaks and valleys in my career — I went through a lot — and it’s one of those feelings I’ll probably never feel again. I’m glad I got to feel it.”

Diaz heads to IL; Jones called up

The Astros placed utilityman Aledmys Diaz on the injured list with a right groin strain Saturday and recalled Taylor Jones from the team’s alternate training site in Corpus Christi.

Manager Dusty Baker said Saturday that Diaz was diagnosed with a right groin strain. Diaz exited in the sixth inning of Friday’s 8-2 win against the Mariners. He underwent an

MRI on Saturday morning that revealed the damage. Baker had no timeline for his return.

Diaz started at designated hitter on opening night. His absence means Kyle

Tucker will “probably get most” of the designated hitter at-bats going forward, Baker said. Tucker started there Saturday against righthander Taijuan Walker.

Though he impressed in spring training and summer camp, Jones was the odd man out for the team’s opening day bench. He arrived at Corpus Christi on Wednesday afternoon along with the other Astros player pool candidates.

Around midnight, minor league fundamentals coordinator Jason Bell knocked on his hotel door. “You’re going to Houston,” Bell told him.

“It’s one of those things that you kind of replay in your head a bunch of times before it happens, and it came out just as I had dreamt it,” Jones said. “It was just Jason Bell, but it felt like it was a good majority of the organization was there telling me I was going.”

To avoid the incoming effects of Hurricane Hanna, Jones awoke early Saturday morning to make the three-hour drive from Corpus Christi to Houston. He left around 6 a.m.

A 19th round pick in the 2016 draft, Jones was a senior sign.

The 26-year-old Gonzaga product struck 50 extra-base hits with Class AAA Round Rock last season, completing a steady ascension up the Astros’ system. Jones eliminated much of the pre-pitch movement in his batting stance, allowing power to emerge. He hit 22 home runs last season after totaling just 33 in his first three years of professional ball.

Houston added him to its 40-man roster this winter to protect him from Rule 5 selection. Now, with

Yuli Gurriel in his final year of club control, Jones projects as the Astros’ first baseman of the future. He played third base and left field in the minor leagues last season, but Baker hinted on Saturday that Jones would see a majority of his time at first base.

Jones is a Washington native. He and his family grew up rabid Seattle Mariners fans, adding more nostalgia to a possible major league debut.

Jones’ entire family gathered to watch the Astros opener against the Mariners. His promotion came in time for Jones to call while all were still around. Jones called his wife, too, waking her up.

“I don’t think she minded getting that phone call,” Jones said.