While the White Sox were scoring 10 runs during the bottom of the third inning Friday night, one of their former sluggers was marking his own milestone.
Officiated by Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and in his suite, Ron Kittle was married to his new wife Barbara. Former teammates Harold Baines and Greg Walker and their spouses were there too.
“He’s so superstitious [Reinsdorf] might marry somebody today in the bottom of the third,” Kittle quipped before Saturday’s game.
Weddings at the ballpark are nothing new to Kittle. Last August, Kittle officiated a 60-second ceremony during a game against the Guardians during a night to honor former owner Bill Veeck.
“Now I’m the only player to marry someone at the park and get married at the park,” Kittle said.
Kittle and many of his old colleagues were at Rate Field on Saturday for a reunion of the 1983 AL West champions. They were introduced before the game, and the group included manager Tony La Russa. Richard Dotson threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
As for the 2026 team, Kittle likes this group more than its recent predecessors.
“Some of these guys get out of their car in the parking lot and they are already dirty,” Kittle said. “They stop balls, they dive. They don’t put their head down when they make a mistake. They got rid of a couple of guys who never hustled, which I was so happy about.”
Schultz soon?
As expected, the Sox optioned righthander David Sandlin to Triple-A Charlotte. With Sandlin back in the minor leagues, that leaves an open spot in the Sox’ rotation.
It could be filled by Noah Schultz.
On the injured list since May 26 with right knee patellar tendinitis, Schultz struck out seven over 4 2/3 innings in a rehab start Friday for Charlotte. Schultz, the Sox’ first-round pick in 2022, threw 52 strikes out of 74 pitches.
Sox manager Will Venable wasn’t committing to Schultz rejoining the rotation the next turn, but didn’t exactly rule it out.
“Noah’s lined up; he’s certainly going to be an option there,” Venable said. “We haven’t made any decisions yet. But he’s lined up and will be under consideration for sure.”
In eight big-league starts, Schultz has a 5.82 ERA and has walked 22 batters in 38 2/3 innings.
To take Sandlin’s place on the roster for now, the Sox recalled lefty Tyler Schweitzer from Charlotte.
There for them
There’s only so much Venable and the Sox can do to ease the minds of Venezuelan players Luisangel Acuña and Everson Pereira in the wake of the country’s earthquakes. The tragedy has killed over 1,400 people, injured scores more and damaged Venezuelan infrastructure.
One thing Venable is doing is communicating with them to make sure they’re OK.
“It’s a terrible situation, it’s awful and obviously very devastating,” Venable said. “Those two guys and a number of guys that we know who are potentially impacted by that, so just checking in on your people.”
Pereira update
Pereira was put on the 7-day concussion IL on June 18 but has not resumed baseball activities. Pereira got hurt June 17 when he crashed into the outfield wall at Yankee Stadium making a catch on a Ben Rice fly ball.