Who? How? White Sox’ Edgar Quero, Tristan Peters upstage Cubs, everyone else in wild 9-8 bash

In the end, it wasn’t White Sox jack-of-all-taters Munetaka Murakami who sent fans home slack-jawed and delirious from Rate Field on Sunday.

Nor was it Cubs firebrand Pete Crow-Armstrong, despite what, under normal circumstances, might have been the kind of afternoon in center field that gets remembered for many a year.

It wasn’t Mune mania, PCA hate, a rare Sox series win against the Cubs or even the all-too-welcome thrill of a Crosstown weekend that actually felt like it mattered that stood out most by the time the scoreboard said Sox 9, Cubs 8 after 10 innings.

Improbably, and at least a bit incredibly, it was something else: the swings of the season — make that of their careers — by perhaps the two unlikeliest heroes in the whole damn joint. And that includes at least a few pitchers, peanut vendors and fans among the nearly 40,000 black- or blue-hearted maniacs in attendance.

The series rubber match already had been thick with excitement and tension before outfielder Tristan Peters (wait, who?) dug in at the plate and yanked a pitch from reliever Phil Maton over the wall in right to put the Sox ahead 7-4 in the eighth inning. Two innings later, with Chase Meidroth on third, one out and the Cubs up 8-7, catcher Edgar Quero (wait, him?) pounded one out to left-center off Ryan Rolison to walk it off as fireworks soared.

The surprising Sox are averaging over a run per game more than last year at this point, have nearly twice as many homers and an OPS more than 100 points higher. For the last month, when they’ve gone a truly hard-to-believe 18-9, they’ve led the majors in dingers, runs per game, on-base percentage and slugging.

Who do these guys think they are, the group Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert Jr. were supposed to be?

But Quero? He gave the Sox offense so little before Sunday, the only thing more uncomfortable than his .151 average and zero home runs might have been how clearly Sox fans have come to prefer injured Kyle Teel at catcher.

And Peters? He hails from hockey country in Manitoba, Canada, scratched his way to Southern Illinois University for the 2021 season, danced and played for the Savannah Bananas after that. He got to High-A ball with the Brewers, Double-A with the Giants and actually got a whiff of the big leagues — an unpleasant one — going 0-for-12 in four games with the Rays in 2025. That led to a trade to the Sox for “cash or a player to be named later,” the proverbial bucket of baseballs.

“I mean, it’s been a journey,” Peters said. “I’ve been in a lot of places, experienced a lot of things. A lot of learning, too — learning things about myself.”

Now 26, he has his first big-league home run and, indeed, his first sense of what it feels like to be between the white lines yet on the top of the world.

“I’ve never experienced anything like that,” he said. “It was incredible.”

Quero watched the first two games of the series from the bench, a drowning hitter manager Will Venable simply couldn’t afford to keep running out there as the regular No. 1 catcher with Teel out. But the night before what turned into a three-hit, three-RBI, walk-off clapback, Quero lay awake and “visualized” something like this happening.

“I was ready for [my] time,” he said.

Still, it was “amazing” for Quero. After connecting, he wasn’t sure the ball would get over Crow-Armstrong’s head and then the wall, too, but it might as well have been a no-doubter for the ages.

“Just happy for me, for the team, for everybody,” he said. “Just happy because we won the series, too.”

Peters looked forward to calling his wife. He was pretty sure she’d be yelling. Maybe not if the baby was sleeping.

It was even possible Peters might be recognized around town after this. Here or there, anyway?

“We do it for the fans,” he said. It’s why we play. It’s incredible to be known. It’s an honor.”

Some players might take heroics like this a bit more in stride. No big deal, you know. Comes with the stardom.

Not the unlikeliest pair in the joint.

“Couldn’t ask for a better moment,” Peters said.

It would be difficult to conjure one.