{"id":661816,"date":"2026-04-04T00:19:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T00:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/661816\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T00:19:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T00:19:15","slug":"white-sox-win-in-10-innings-provide-a-happy-day-for-jerry-reinsdorf-in-home-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/661816\/","title":{"rendered":"White Sox win in 10 innings, provide a happy day for Jerry Reinsdorf in home opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few months into his 10th decade on the planet, Jerry Reinsdorf had one of his better days as owner of the White Sox<\/a>. So did the fans of his team, which has spent far too much time on the dark side of the moon in recent years.<\/p>\n

First, the 90-year-old Reinsdorf made Ozzie Guillen cry. Then his team, returning home after a dreadful 1-5 start in which they\u2019d allowed a major-league high 52 runs, gave him reason to smile.<\/p>\n

The tears came on TV early Friday afternoon, when Guillen was told during a live broadcast on CHSN that Reinsdorf had given his blessing to retire Guillen\u2019s No. 13 White Sox jersey.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI told him I was happy to make him cry,\u2019\u2019 Reinsdorf said of honoring Guillen, who played and managed on the South Side beginning in 1985 before becoming the cult figure he is today.<\/p>\n

The smiles came in the aftermath of Friday\u2019s home opener, Reinsdorf\u2019s 46th as chairman of the team, the White Sox winning, 5-4, over Toronto after a head-spinning 10th inning which nearly made new Japanese player Munetaka Murakami\u2019s day end in embarrassment, when he was pulled inches off the first-base bag by a wide throw from third baseman Miguel Vargas.<\/p>\n

The White Sox challenged the call on what would have been a game-ending play, but replays upheld the safe call by first-base umpire Junior Valentine. Vargas was charged with a throwing error, and ghost runner Davis Schneider scored the tying run.<\/p>\n

The Sox then staged a face-saving \u2014 and game-winning \u2014 rally in the bottom of the 10th, scoring twice on a daring two-out bunt that traveled the length of a pool cue, followed by a walkoff delivered by a former Savannah Banana.<\/p>\n

Canada-born Tristan Peters, whose continued employment as a ballplayer once depended in part on his skill as a line dancer for the Bananas,<\/a> stroked his game-winning liner into right field off Jays closer Jeff Hoffman, then was chased into short center field by a pack of delirious teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they lifted me by the jersey,\u2019\u2019 said Peters, \u201cand it ripped a few buttons off, but I don\u2019t know how I ended up [shirtless].\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Peters spent 17 games with an early incarnation of the Bananas before being drafted by the Brewers on the seventh round in 2021. The Sox purchased him from the Rays in December, he had a good spring in Arizona, and with Brooks Baldwin out with a sprained elbow, won a spot, at least temporarily, in the Sox outfield.<\/p>\n

Peters, one of 13 new players on the Sox roster, came into this season with a dozen big-league at-bats, going hitless in four games. A week into his first season with the White Sox, he can claim a walkoff in the home opener.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, this has got to be at the top,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cThis is just one of the coolest things. I mean I\u2019ve been playing every day so far since Opening Day, which has been great. I mean, just getting my at-bats, seeing pitching at the big-league level, it\u2019s awesome. I\u2019m just trying to be consistent.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

The man who provided the bunt was the well-traveled Derek Hill, a former No. 1 draft choice by Detroit a dozen years ago who is on his sixth big-league team in the last four seasons. In the midst of all his travels, Hill has made sure to pack his well-honed ability to bunt.<\/p>\n

Clearly, a two-out bunt in extra innings with your team down by a run is not a high-percentage play. But the Jays had just lost their catcher, Alejandro Kirk, when he was struck in the thumb on his catching hand by a foul tip, and Ernie Clement, who had just been shifted to third, was playing back. All that registered with Hill and manager Will Venable, who decided to go for it.<\/p>\n

Hill dropped his bunt down the third-base line, just a few feet from the plate. But backup catcher Tyler Heineman, rushed into the game to replace Kirk, threw the ball into right field. Ghost runner Vargas scored the tying run, and Hill dashed across the plate on Peters\u2019 hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opportunity presented itself,\u2019\u2019 Hill said, \u201cand thank God we knocked it out\u201d \u2014 he caught himself \u2014 \u201cnot knocked it out, but dropped it in the park. How far? Six feet, maybe.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Far enough to allow Reinsdorf to depart a happy man, along with 33,171 who had come in search of something to cheer about.<\/a><\/p>\n

Reinsdorf has not done interviews in years, but briefly chatted with an ink-stained acquaintance who said he last spoke with the owner in a champagne-soaked clubhouse in 2005, the last time the Sox won the Series,<\/p>\n

\u201cA long time ago,\u2019\u2019 Reinsdorf said. \u201cBut it seems like yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need better pitching. The rest of the ballclub is OK, but we need pitching, And we need some wins.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

And the South Side congregation said: Amen.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Fans tailgated outside Rate Field before the game against the Blue Jays, and those who stuck around witnessed a thrilling extra-inning victory.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI guess [the White Sox] did it the right way, because they made me cry,\u2019\u2019 Guillen said.<\/p>\n

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For a guy beginning the final guaranteed year of his contract, White Sox TV voice John Schriffen isn\u2019t helping his cause to stick around.<\/p>\n

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Trying to make the most of his MLB opportunity, the avid line dancer says his brief stint with the famed exhibition squad \u201chelped me a lot just to get out of my shell.\u201d<\/p>\n

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