Third baseman Miguel Vargas has come up big for the White Sox all year, and he did so again Thursday to help his club move back into first place in the American League Central.
Vargas made a pair of key defensive plays late in a 3-1 win over Detroit at Rate Field to bring Chicago back into a tie atop the division. The White Sox and Guardians are both 78-75 with nine games to play, but the White Sox hold the head-to-head tiebreaker by virtue of winning the season series over their rivals.
With two outs in the top of the eighth and the tying run at the plate for the Tigers, Vargas leapt to snare a Max Clark chopper on the infield. His throw to first was late, but he raced back to third base, fielded a throw from first baseman Munetaka Murakami and slapped down an acrobatic off-balance tag on Detroit’s Brett Callahan. Callahan was initially ruled safe at third, but the White Sox successfully challenged the call and escaped the inning.
In the ninth, Vargas charged a Gleyber Torres grounder and tagged out Colt Keith on the way to third base before rifling a throw across the diamond to retire Torres for a game-ending double play.
While Vargas has been getting things done with his bat -- the 2026 All-Star has 31 home runs, 84 RBIs and an .827 OPS -- Thursday’s win showed how he can impact the game defensively, as well.