Frank Thomas rips 10th inning rule: 'That's a softball rule' originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The White Sox lost to the Reds in extra innings on Wednesday, and a lot of it centered on closer Liam Hendriks acting as the team’s base runner to begin the top of the 10th inning.
The rules allowed for manager Tony La Russa to have Jose Abreu run in Hendriks place, but La Russa admitted he didn’t know the details of the rule after the game.
But the base runner in extra innings rule isn’t popular among pundits and fans across baseball. That list includes White Sox Postgame Live‘s Frank Thomas and Ozzie Guillen, who both expressed their disdain.
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“Do you know who made these rules? People who never played the game,” Guillen said. “That’s a fact.”
“That is a softball rule,” Thomas said. “That is an old-school softball rule… oh, that guy, the previous guy can run for the pitcher. Who’s making up these rules? It’s crazy.”
To be clear, Thomas and Guillen weren’t blaming the White Sox loss on the rule itself.
“Baseball in 2021,” Thomas said. “It’s a different world.”
It also didn’t help that the White Sox struggled with timely hitting.
“If you don’t score runs, you’re not going to win ballgames,” Thomas said. “We didn’t swing the bat all day long after scoring nine runs last night.”
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