White Sox provide a happy day for Jerry Reinsdorf, fans in extra-inning home-opening win over Blue Jays

A few months into his 10th decade, Jerry Reinsdorf had one of his better days as chairman of the White Sox. So did the fans of his team, which has spent far too much time on the dark side of the moon in recent years.

First, the 90-year-old Reinsdorf made Ozzie Guillen cry. Then the Sox, returning home after a dreadful 1-5 start in which they allowed a major-league-high 52 runs, gave him reason to smile.

The tears came on TV early Friday afternoon, when Guillen was told during the live broadcast on CHSN that Reinsdorf had given his blessing to retire Guillen’s No. 13 Sox jersey.

‘‘I told him I was happy to make him cry,’’ Reinsdorf said of honoring Guillen, who played and managed on the South Side beginning in 1985 before becoming the cult figure he is today.

The smiles came in the aftermath of the home opener, Reinsdorf’s 46th as chairman of the team, with the Sox defeating the Blue Jays 5-4 after a head-spinning 10th inning that nearly made Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami’s day end in embarrassment.

Murakami was pulled inches off first base by a wide throw from third baseman Miguel Vargas. The Sox challenged the call on what would have been an inning-ending play, but replays upheld the safe call by umpire Junior Valentine. Vargas was charged with a throwing error, and ghost runner Davis Schneider scored the go-ahead run.

The Sox then staged a face-saving — and game-winning — rally in their half of the 10th, scoring twice on a daring two-out bunt that traveled the length of a pool cue, followed by a walk-off delivered by a former Savannah Banana.

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

‘‘I think they lifted me by the jersey,’’ Peters said, ‘‘and it ripped a few buttons off. But I don’t know how I ended up [shirtless].’’

Peters spent 17 games with an early incarnation of the Bananas before being drafted by the Brewers in 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 outfield.

Peters, one of 13 new players on the Sox’ roster, came into this season with a dozen big-league at-bats. A week into his first season with the Sox, he can claim a walk-off in the home opener.

‘‘I mean, this has got to be at the top,’’ he said. ‘‘This is just one of the coolest things. I mean, I’ve 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’s awesome. I’m just trying to be consistent.’’

The man who provided the bunt was the well-traveled Derek Hill, a former first-round draft choice by the Tigers 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.

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 of 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.

Hill dropped his bunt down the third-base line, just a few feet from the plate. But backup catcher Tyler Heineman, who had been rushed into the game to replace Kirk, threw the ball into right field. Ghost runner Vargas scored the tying run before Hill dashed across the plate on Peters’ hit.

‘‘The opportunity presented itself, and thank God we knocked it out’’ — Hill paused before he caught himself — ‘‘not knocked it out but dropped it in the park. How far? Six feet, maybe.’’

Far enough to allow Reinsdorf to depart the ballpark a happy man, along with 33,171 who had come in search of something to cheer about.

Reinsdorf has not done interviews in years, but he chatted briefly with an ink-stained acquaintance who said he last had spoken with him in a champagne-soaked clubhouse in 2005, when the Sox won the World Series,

‘‘A long time ago,’’ Reinsdorf said. ‘‘But it seems like yesterday. We need better pitching. The rest of the ballclub is OK, but we need pitching. And we need some wins.’’

And the South Side congregation said, ‘‘Amen.’’