{"id":661886,"date":"2026-04-04T01:02:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T01:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/661886\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T01:02:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T01:02:25","slug":"chicago-white-sox-beat-toronto-blue-jays-5-4-in-home-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/661886\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago White Sox beat Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 in home opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

Derek Hill had a conversation with manager Will Venable before a 10th inning at-bat in Friday\u2019s home opener against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rate Field.<\/p>\n

\u201cSkip came out and was like, \u2018if they\u2019re playing back, don\u2019t be afraid to drop one down,’\u201d the Chicago White Sox designated hitter said.<\/p>\n

The Sox trailed the Blue Jays by one run but had a runner on third in Miguel Vargas with two outs.<\/p>\n

Photos: White Sox\u2019s home opener at Rate Field<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Hill listened to the advice and placed a bunt just in front of the plate. Catcher Tyler Heineman, who entered after Alejandro Kirk got injured on a foul ball during the previous at-bat, quickly gathered the ball but threw wildly to first. Vargas scored and Hill made it to second on the error.<\/p>\n

\u201c(I) just went out there and executed his plan and it all worked out,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n

Right fielder Tristan Peters followed with a walk-off single to right field as the Sox defeated the Blue Jays 5-4 in front of 33,171 at Rate Field.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat bunt was incredible,\u201d Peters said. \u201cJust to keep us in the game like that. And then I\u2019m just thinking, I know Derek is very fast, so a single scores him. I\u2019m just trying to make contact and get it on the grass in the outfield somewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was super exciting. It was such an honor to be able to win it on opening night here at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a sluggish 1-5 season-opening trip<\/a> and being forced to wait a day for their home debut after Thursday\u2019s postponement<\/a>, the Sox used small ball to top last year\u2019s American League champions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to find any way we can, especially in the AL Central in April,\u201d Venable said. \u201cWe know there\u2019s going to be wind, weather. Slug is maybe not part of our offensive package, and we\u2019ve got to find any way we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WhiteWhite Sox left fielder Austin Hays connects for a two-run single against the Blue Jays in the third inning on April 3, 2026, at Rate Field. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

That included a double steal by Vargas and Colson Montgomery in the third inning. Austin Hays followed with a two-run single against Blue Jays starter Dylan Cease<\/a> to give the Sox a 3-1 lead.<\/p>\n

Sean Burke<\/a> helped the Sox maintain that lead throughout much of the afternoon, allowing one run on four hits with seven strikeouts and no walks over six innings. Burke followed Grant Taylor, who struck out one in his one inning as the opener.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, just trying to stay on my plan and continue to attack hitters and not let a couple hits rattle me,\u201d Burke said. \u201cJust trying to continue to flood the zone and make good pitches every single time out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays tied the score on a two-run home run from Andr\u00e9s Gim\u00e9nez against reliever Jordan Leasure in the eighth inning.<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays took the lead in the 10th when Davis Schneider scored as first baseman Munetaka Murakami was ruled to be slightly off the bag while catching Vargas\u2019 throw from third on a George Springer grounder.<\/p>\n

Vargas served as the automatic runner at second base to begin the bottom of the 10th. He advanced to third on a Montgomery grounder and remained there when Hays struck out.<\/p>\n

\"WhiteWhite Sox outfielder Derek Hill darts to first base on a bunt in the 10th inning against the Blue Jays on April 3, 2026, at Rate Field. (John J. Kim\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

Hill came up with the discussion he had with Venable in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a different way to attack and put pressure on the defense,\u201d Venable said of bunting. \u201cGot to find different ways to do it on different days. We\u2019re not always going to slug.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we have guys that control the zone well. We do have some guys that can drive the ball. But to be able to have Derek, Tristan, even some of our big boys lay down bunts, it just gives your offense another dynamic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hill executed the bunt on a first-pitch slider from Jeff Hoffman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just the way we kind of have to play the game,\u201d Hill said. \u201cWe\u2019re not like a huge slugging team like the Dodgers where you have four guys that can hit 30. So we\u2019ve got to play that small ball, we\u2019ve got to play clean and that\u2019s what we did tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peters then lined a 1-0 splitter to right field for the single, bringing in Hill to start the homestand off on a positive note.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt meant so much,\u201d Peters said of winning in front of the home crowd. \u201cThat was so cool to have all the fans rallying behind us and sticking through it with us too. Up-and-down game, but very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Derek Hill had a conversation with manager Will Venable before a 10th inning at-bat in Friday\u2019s home opener…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2379],"tags":[5,138,49,2561,10448,8220,11613,4154,4,73,2003,70,30019,396,84401,2562,998],"class_list":{"0":"post-661886","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-colson-montgomery","13":"tag-derek-hill","14":"tag-grant-taylor","15":"tag-miguel-vargas","16":"tag-mlb","17":"tag-munetaka-murakami","18":"tag-sean-burke","19":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","20":"tag-tristan-peters","21":"tag-white-sox","22":"tag-white-sox-home-opener","23":"tag-whitesox","24":"tag-will-venable"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116343745584932644","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661886","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=661886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}