CHICAGO – Miguel Vargas, Colson Montgomery and Munetaka Murakami entered a 4-1 victory for the White Sox over the Twins Friday at a steamy Rate Field, all tied for the team lead at 29 home runs.
Vargas was the first one of the trio to reach 30, connecting off Zebby Matthews with one out in the first inning. But it took Montgomery just three more innings to regain a share of the lead in the fourth.
Braden Montgomery also went deep, as the White Sox ended a two-game losing streak and maintained their hold atop the American League Central. With Cleveland (71-71) splitting a doubleheader at home against Detroit, the White Sox (74-67) remained the only team above .500 in the division and increased their lead to 3 1/2 games.
Erick Fedde threw shutout baseball for five innings, striking out two and walking two, as he lowered his ERA to 4.00. Vargas joined Robin Ventura (1996) and Joe Crede (2006) as the only primary third basemen in franchise history with 30 homers and 30 doubles in the same season. Vargas has 30 doubles after hitting 32 last year.
That home run to right, traveling a Statcast-projected 382 feet to right-center, put Vargas as the fifth primary White Sox third baseman to reach 30 homers in a single season. He joined Todd Frazier (40 in 2016), Ventura (34 in ‘96), Crede (30 in ‘06) and Bill Melton (33 in 1970-71).
There might have been a little magic involved in this whole victory. Fans in attendance received the Mike Vasil wand giveaway, the same sort of wand Vasil uses in the White Sox dugout to bring good luck to the team.
The White Sox got to Matthews for four runs in five innings, after Matthews took a perfect game into the sixth this past Sunday against the South Siders at Target Field and yielded one run over 8 1/3 innings. But it’s tough to shut down this White Sox offense twice in five days.