MIAMI -- The return to Miami was always going to mean something for Miguel Vargas. Back in the place he calls home, he made sure it meant everything on Monday night.
On a quiet, rainy night outside loanDepot park, Vargas delivered the loudest moment of the game, launching a grand slam to left field to lead the White Sox to a 9-4 win over the Marlins.
It was part of a notable stretch for Chicago, which has hit grand slams in back-to-back games for the fourth time in franchise history and the first since June 23-25, 2006.
The White Sox entered the night looking to reset after being swept by the Brewers, which included being outscored by 19 runs (29-10) over the three-game series, while the Marlins stayed home riding momentum from a sweep of the Rockies.
Vargas flied out to left, Munetaka Murakami grounded out and Austin Hays struck out swinging as the White Sox went down in order in the first inning. The kind of empty frame that echoed closely with what the White Sox showed in the opening series.
But the tone shifted in the top of the third.
Everson Pereira, coming off a multihit game on Sunday, led off with a double to left. Edgar Quero followed with a groundout to move him to third, bringing Vargas to the plate. He attacked the first pitch he saw from Chris Paddack, an 85.5 mph changeup, and lined it into left field for an RBI single to open the scoring.
Murakami followed with a ground-ball single to keep the inning moving, and Hays broke it open.
Hays drove a four-seam fastball 353 feet to right field for a three-run homer, his first of the season, giving the White Sox a 4-0 lead.
An inning later, Vargas delivered the decisive blow.
With the bases loaded, Vargas turned on another changeup from Paddack and sent it 402 feet with an exit velocity of 105.5 mph for his first home run of the season, a grand slam that pushed the game out of reach.
Miami answered in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run homer from Liam Hicks and a single from Jakob Marsee in the fifth, bringing the score to 8-3.
But Vargas was not done.
He added a sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth for his sixth RBI of the night, capping a career performance. Luisangel Acuña, who had stolen second and third earlier in the inning, scored on the play.
It marked the first six-RBI game by a White Sox player since Seby Zavala on July 31, 2021, vs. Cleveland, and came in a return to a place that remains familiar and important to Vargas.