The White Sox kept their grip on first place in the American League Central on the strength of a power display that did the heavy lifting early and a steady outing from Erick Fedde that never let things get away.
Lenyn Sosa Vargas got the night moving right away, launching a home run off Zebby Matthews with one out in the first inning. That shot put him on the 30-homer plateau, and it also gave him a place in franchise company: Vargas became the fifth primary White Sox third baseman to reach 30 home runs in a season, joining Todd Frazier (40 in 2016), Robin Ventura (34 in ’96), Joe Crede (30 in ’06) and Bill Melton (33 in 1970-71).
Vargas’ blast to right, a Statcast-projected 382 feet to right-center, was part of a bigger milestone night for the White Sox third baseman. He now has 30 doubles as well, making him one of only two primary third basemen in team history to post 30 homers and 30 doubles in the same season.
Ventura did it in 1996, and Crede did it in 2006. Vargas had 32 doubles last year.
Braden Montgomery added another jolt a few innings later, and by then the White Sox were well on their way to ending a two-game losing streak. The win kept Chicago at 74-67 and, with Cleveland splitting a doubleheader at home against Detroit to sit at 71-71, the White Sox remained the only team above .500 in the division. Their lead held at 3 1/2 games.
Fedde did his part by working five shutout innings, allowing the White Sox to play from ahead without much stress. He struck out two, walked two and trimmed his ERA to 4.00.
Matthews, meanwhile, ran into a lineup that didn’t let him breathe for long. Chicago scored four runs against him in five innings, a sharp contrast to what he did against the South Siders just days earlier, when he carried a perfect game into the sixth on Sunday at Target Field and gave up only one run over 8 1/3 innings.
This time, the White Sox offense found a way to break through again. It’s not easy to quiet that group twice in five days.
There may have been a little extra good fortune floating around the ballpark, too. Fans received the Mike Vasil wand giveaway, matching the kind of wand Vasil uses in the White Sox dugout to try to bring good luck to the club.
In Other News...
White Sox Stadium Dream Just Got Real With One Huge Catch
A new White Sox ballpark is moving from concept to something a little more tangible. Justin Ishbias Canal Edge development company has released the first information and renderings for a proposed stadium called The Railyards, a project planned for Bridgeport across the Chicago River. The design leans into a nostalgic look, with an open roof and architectural touches meant to echo Comiskey Park, while placing the venue along West Roosevelt Road and West 18th Street.
The appeal is obvious for a franchise that has spent years dealing with uncertainty around its home future, but the path forward still looks complicated. The site comes with a major obstacle in the form of active railyards that would need to be relocated, and even with the visuals now public, the project still needs city approval and funding before it can move beyond the dream stage. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Future Just Got More Interesting For One Strange Reason
The White Sox have turned the final stretch of the season into something more than a division race, sitting atop the AL Central with a little more than 20 games left. But the bigger long-view conversation around Chicagos rebuild is starting to take on a strange new wrinkle, because the next truly meaningful wave of young talent may arrive right when the sports calendar gets complicated.
Ongoing MLB labor negotiations have made a 2027 lockout look increasingly likely, and if that happens, players on the 40-man roster would be the ones sidelined. That is where the White Soxs farm system comes into focus, with top prospects Roch Cholowsky and Caleb Bonemer projected to play major roles in the organization by then and possibly put themselves in position for debuts if a season is played. For a team trying to line up its next contender, the timing could end up mattering almost as much as the talent. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Prospects Are Giving This Farm System Some Real Momentum
A little momentum in the White Sox farm system has been hard to miss lately, and a few of the organizations younger arms helped keep it rolling. David Sandlin, Grant Umberger and Fabian Ysalla combined to allow four earned runs over 16.1 innings while striking out 20 in recent minor league games, a stretch that gave the system a much-needed jolt across multiple levels.
Sandlin was sharp for the Triple-A Charlotte Knights, striking out 11 in a win, while Umberger delivered six innings with five strikeouts in a playoff-clinching victory for the High-A Winston-Salem Dash. Even the Single-A Kannapolis Cannon Ballers found a way to add to the mood, winning a close one with six stolen bases, while the Double-A Birmingham Barons had their game washed out by rain. [Read more 🡒]