Notes: Taylor's emotions; Aaron calls Baker

HOUSTON -- Left-hander Blake Taylor, who admitted he cried when he was told by Dusty Baker he had made the Opening Day roster, joined fellow reliever Enoli Paredes in making their big league debuts in Friday’s 8-2 win over the Mariners at Minute Maid Park.

The 24-year-old Taylor, acquired from the Mets in the Jake Marisnick trade in the offseason, had pitched in only a handful of innings above Double-A before taking the ball in the eighth inning Friday. He retired the side on only nine pitches.

“When the phone rang, I kind of had a feeling I was going to pitch,” Taylor said. “There’s a lot of lefties in this lineup. I was kind of mentally preparing from the fourth inning on to get a grasp of what the hitters were doing, their tendencies and everything like that. When I got the call, my heart started racing. I was super excited to get out there. And then obviously, when you kind of get out there and you start running out, you kind of feel like it’s like almost riding a bike again, like you’re in the same position.”

Taylor’s debut came with no fans in the stands because of the coronavirus epidemic, which meant his family couldn’t see him in person. Taylor said his phone was filled with countless messages from friends and family members, and second baseman José Altuve kept the ball from the final out of the inning for him.

“It was an emotional night for everybody, me and my family,” Taylor said. “It’s a lot of hard work. They’ve all pushed me and never let me give up. It was a great night for my entire family, my support system and everything like that.”

Aaron reaches out to Baker following win

Hall of Famer slugger Hank Aaron was among those who reached out to Baker when he picked up his first win as manager of the Astros – and the 1,864th of his career – on Friday in the 3,500th game of his career. Baker said he also heard from former National League batting champion Ralph Garr and former Astros pitcher J.R. Richard, both of whom live in Houston, among others.

“He’s been my mentor, like my uncle and my dad ever since I signed,” Baker said of Aaron. “He promised my mother when I was 18 years old that if I signed [with the Braves], he would take care of me as if I was his own son. So he made me go to bed when I didn’t want to go to bed, made me go to church when I didn’t want to go to church and made me get up and eat breakfast when I didn’t want to. All the things that people that care about you do that you don’t really appreciate until after.”

The Astros were scheduled to hold a moment of silence prior to Saturday’s game for two other former players who were close to Baker -- former Astros sluggers Jimmy Wynn and Bob Watson, both of whom passed away recently.

“Jimmy Wynn took care of me when I was on the Braves,” Baker said. “We’d go to lunch or go out to the club and have a couple of drinks and then when we got traded for each other [in 1975], it wasn’t a very popular trade in L.A. I was booed every day for the first six months because I didn’t do much and Jimmy Wynn was loved out there [in Atlanta].”

Baker said Watson taught him about the importance of driving in runs.

“We remained friends for a long, long, time and when he was in the Commissioner’s Office, he was in charge of fines and he used to fine me quite heavily,” Baker said. “I named him Judge Dread. He didn’t enjoy it when I called him Judge Dread but he knew I was telling the truth because he was fining me pretty heavily. I miss both of those guys and they were quality human beings.”