{"id":2414435,"date":"2026-05-13T05:04:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T05:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2414435"},"modified":"2026-05-13T05:04:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T05:04:29","slug":"derek-hills-pinch-hit-homer-diving-catch-fuel-white-sox-victory-against-royals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/derek-hills-pinch-hit-homer-diving-catch-fuel-white-sox-victory-against-royals\/","title":{"rendered":"Derek Hill&#8217;s pinch-hit homer, diving catch fuel White Sox&#8217; victory against Royals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/chicago.suntimes.com\/white-sox\" target=\"_blank\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">White Sox<\/a> certainly hope that wasn\u2019t Derek Hill\u2019s only five minutes of fame, but they\u2019ll take it for now.<\/p>\n<p>Hill hit a tiebreaking pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning, then robbed Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. with a diving catch in right field for the first out of the ninth to lift the Sox to a 6-5 victory Tuesday at Rate Field.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018\u2018A special five minutes,\u2019\u2019 manager Will Venable said. \u2018\u2018Can\u2019t make much more of an impact on the game than that in such a quick span.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Hill was the third consecutive pinch hitter Venable sent to the plate in the eighth to face left-handed reliever Matt Strahm. Edgar Quero flied to left, and Randal Grichuk grounded out on a spectacular play by shortstop Witt.<\/p>\n<p>Then came Hill, who entered the game hitting .300 against lefties (.077 against righties). He sent a 1-1 pitch 417 feet to center field and raised his fist on his trot.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018\u2018That\u2019s kind of my role over here,\u2019\u2019 said Hill, who hit a tying pinch homer May 3 in San Diego. \u2018\u2018That\u2019s a lot of guys\u2019 roles over here. They\u2019re able to put us in the right spot to succeed, and tonight was one of those nights.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u2018\u2018That\u2019s a really tough part of the job,\u2019\u2019 Venable said. \u2018\u2018You don\u2019t know when these opportunities are gonna come, and sometimes there\u2019s a lot of space in between. You just gotta stay ready, and Derek does a great job making sure that he\u2019s prepared.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Venable pushed the right buttons with the bullpen, too, using closer Seranthony Dominguez in the eighth and Bryan Hudson in the ninth. He said that was so the right-handed Dominguez would face Maikel Garci<b>a<\/b> and potentially Witt, both right-handed hitters. Dominguez and Hudson each pitched 1-2-3 innings.<\/p>\n<p>All of Venable\u2019s moves caught Hill\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018\u2018He always plays chess,\u2019\u2019 Hill said. \u2018\u2018I feel like he\u2019s been making incredible moves all year. You see it play out in our favor more often than not. Gotta tip my cap to him, as always.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Hill deserves a tip of the cap, too, for his diving catch of Witt\u2019s line drive. What was he thinking on the play?<\/p>\n<p>\u2018\u2018Don\u2019t let it get by you, or that\u2019s an inside-the-parker,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u2018\u2018Because he flies.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Hill also caught the final out on a fly ball down the right-field line, moving the Sox one game below .500 at 20-21. They didn\u2019t win their 20th game last season until June 5 (20-43).<\/p>\n<div class=\"PageListL\" data-module=\"\" data-hide-authors=\"true\" data-hide-categories=\"true\" data-hide-dates=\"true\" data-show-loadmore=\"true\"><a target=\"_blank\" class=\"AnchorLink\" id=\"list-4a0005\" name=\"list-4a0005\" data-cms-ai=\"0\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"PageListL-items\" data-with-borders=\"\">\n<div class=\"PageListL-items-item\">\n<div class=\"PagePromoB\">\n<div class=\"PagePromoB-content\">\n<p>Jirschele had a lot running through his mind in the seconds he had to decide to send Romo home as the go-ahead run in the eighth inning of the Sox\u2019 win Sunday.<\/p>\n<div class=\"PagePromo-byline\">\n<p>\n                    <bsp-timestamp data-timestamp=\"1778637879000\" data-promo=\"true\"><br \/>\n                        <template data-date-tpl=\"\">[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]<\/template><br \/>\n                        <span data-date=\"\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n                    <\/bsp-timestamp><span class=\"dot\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n    <span class=\"dot-divider\"\/><br \/>\n    <svg class=\"PagePromo-readingTime-icon\">\n      <use xlink:href=\"#icon-clock-reading\"\/>\n    <\/svg><br \/>\n    <span class=\"PagePromo-readingTime-text\"><br \/>\n      <bsp-time-to-read data-article-word-count=\"565\"\/> read<br \/>\n    <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"PageListL-items-item\">\n<div class=\"PagePromoB\">\n<div class=\"PagePromoB-content\">\n<p>Peters ranks among the major-league leaders in defensive metrics for outfielders, most notably in jump, where he entered play Tuesday ranked fourth, according to Statcast.<\/p>\n<div class=\"PagePromo-byline\">\n<p>\n                    <bsp-timestamp data-timestamp=\"1778637219000\" data-promo=\"true\"><br \/>\n                        <template data-date-tpl=\"\">[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]<\/template><br \/>\n                        <span data-date=\"\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n                    <\/bsp-timestamp><span class=\"dot\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n    <span class=\"dot-divider\"\/><br \/>\n    <svg class=\"PagePromo-readingTime-icon\">\n      <use xlink:href=\"#icon-clock-reading\"\/>\n    <\/svg><br \/>\n    <span class=\"PagePromo-readingTime-text\"><br \/>\n      <bsp-time-to-read data-article-word-count=\"602\"\/> read<br \/>\n    <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"PageListL-items-item\">\n<div class=\"PagePromoB\">\n<div class=\"PagePromoB-content\">\n<p>A quarter of the way through this season, the Sox bear little resemblance to their 2023-25 versions.<\/p>\n<div class=\"PagePromo-byline\">\n<p>\n                    <bsp-timestamp data-timestamp=\"1778548966000\" data-promo=\"true\"><br \/>\n                        <template data-date-tpl=\"\">[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]<\/template><br \/>\n                        <span data-date=\"\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n                    <\/bsp-timestamp><span class=\"dot\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n    <span class=\"dot-divider\"\/><br \/>\n    <svg class=\"PagePromo-readingTime-icon\">\n      <use xlink:href=\"#icon-clock-reading\"\/>\n    <\/svg><br \/>\n    <span class=\"PagePromo-readingTime-text\"><br \/>\n      <bsp-time-to-read data-article-word-count=\"653\"\/> read<br \/>\n    <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"PageListL-items-item\">\n<div class=\"PagePromoB\">\n<div class=\"PagePromoB-content\">\n<p>They\u2019ll meet up again this weekend, when the Cubs travel to Rate Field for the first round of the Crosstown Showdown with the White Sox.<\/p>\n<div class=\"PagePromo-byline\">\n<p>\n                    <bsp-timestamp data-timestamp=\"1778546740000\" data-promo=\"true\"><br \/>\n                        <template data-date-tpl=\"\">[month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone]<\/template><br \/>\n                        <span data-date=\"\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n                    <\/bsp-timestamp><span class=\"dot\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n    <span class=\"dot-divider\"\/><br \/>\n    <svg class=\"PagePromo-readingTime-icon\">\n      <use xlink:href=\"#icon-clock-reading\"\/>\n    <\/svg><br \/>\n    <span class=\"PagePromo-readingTime-text\"><br \/>\n      <bsp-time-to-read data-article-word-count=\"1002\"\/> read<br \/>\n    <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source chicago.suntimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The White Sox certainly hope that wasn\u2019t Derek Hill\u2019s only five minutes of fame, but they\u2019ll take it for now. Hill hit a tiebreaking pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning, then robbed Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. with a diving catch in right field for the first out of the ninth to lift the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2414436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2414435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Derek-Hills-pinch-hit-homer-diving-catch-fuel-White-Sox-victory.com2Fbrightspot2Fec2F862Fbbb.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2414435"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2414437,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414435\/revisions\/2414437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2414436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2414435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2414435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2414435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}